Thinking of any members in LA and hoping you are OK . There are currently 3 wildfires and 2 evacuation orders https://news.sky.com/story/la-wildf...-mother-natures-terrifying-levellers-13285287
This is from 2023, but sharing for sight as I came across today from an MD affiliated with Univ. of Minnesota in a letter addressed to the MN House of Representatives on LC & ME. 3/20/23, 'Bazak Sharon, MD - Univ. of Minnesota: 'Letter to Minnesota House of Representatives, Chair Leibling & Committee Members' Excerpts: 'So far I have seen more than 100 children with complaints of variety of persistent, and often debilitating symptoms. This experience gives me an excellent vantage point to explain Long Covid, its clinical presentation, and its impact on individuals, communities, and society, particularly children and their families. 'ME/CFS is a complex disease that is characterized by overwhelming fatigue and causes substantial loss of physical and mental stamina. It debilitates patients and many cannot maintain their regular daily activities, cannot work, function as they used to, and some are bed ridden and lose their mobility. But ME/CFS not only incapacitate individual patients, but it also represents a substantial burden of families, communities, and the economy. The estimate annual direct and indirect economic costs of ME/CFS are between $17 and $24 billion.' 'The pathology seen in patients with Long Covid is very similar to other post-viral syndrome and in addition to ME/CFS..' 'This association between Long Covid and ME/CFS also represents an opportunity to tackle these challenges in two fronts. First, we can build on the knowledge and experience we have about the diagnosis and management of ME/CFS to design the optimal response to long covid. Model for effective management include increasing access to healthcare, educating primary care providers and providing resources, promoting clinics to provide coordinated, holistic, and individual care.' 'Second, ME/CFS and other post-viral syndromes have long been a significant blind spot in the field of medicine. These chronic illnesses have been misunderstood for generations before becoming controversial in the age of evidence-based medicine. But even after scientific theories have emerged to explain fatigue and other chronic illnesses as sequalae of acute infection, the sporadic epidemiology of these syndromes has been a major obstacle to research. SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic have provided a unique, once in a generation opportunity to combine clinical care with observational and hypotheses driven projects to study chronic illness and its association with viral infection. The same concepts that are so important to effective management (access to care, educating primary providers, promoting coordinated care) can also serve as the foundation to longitudinal studies on a large cohort of children infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Minnesota, with implications on the scientific understanding of post-viral syndromes in all populations everywhere in the world.’
1/8/25: “Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID (ACLC) Members” “Today I am excited to announce the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services will induct in the first wave of members to the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID” - Ian Simon, Director, Office of Long COVID Research and Practice https://www.hhs.gov/ash/advisory-committees/long-covid/members/index.html
The story had no link to the bill (or maybe I missed it...) but I'm pretty sure the legislation being discussed is the Long Covid Moonshot bill. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/4964/text/is https://longcovidmoonshot.com/
1/10/25, Minnesota Department of Health: 'Impact of Long COVID Symptoms in Minnesota' 'In 2023, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) called 20,000 adult Minnesotans with a known COVID-19 infection to learn about symptoms and experiences occurring three months or more after their infection. A total of 1,270 people completed the interview.' 'Over 40% of the survey respondents reported having at least one symptom lasting three months or longer after they had COVID-19. Many experienced symptoms lasting six months or longer. Approximately 1 in 5 respondents had a long-lasting symptom that was severe. The most common long-lasting symptoms were tiredness, fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog, and cough.' 'Two-thirds of those with long-lasting symptoms said they had difficulty performing daily activities, such as household tasks or going to work or school.' 'MDH is one of the first state health departments in the country to have a program and staff dedicated to long COVID. Work includes: - Providing funding to 18 community partner organizations that serve disabled, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), low income, rural, American Indian, Latine, African American, African immigrant, Asian American, Asian immigrant, and LGBTQ+ communities throughout Minnesota. These organizations reach thousands of individuals disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They are helping us to understand the impacts of long COVID, raise awareness, and increase access to quality care and support for long COVID and related conditions.' Link to website as well.
