2022 Equity Challenge Day 10: Systematic Racism and Ableism’s Impact on long COVID

“I can honestly say that having had #LongCovid for 22 months, I haven’t once felt close to recovery. This illness isn’t improving for me. It just goes on. It just goes on. I might have a *relatively* better day once in a blue moon but that’s all they are; still nowhere near normal. #TreatLongCovid. For many like me, #LongCovid is not some slow road to eventual recovery (as much as I wish it were). It’s a painful, debilitating, chronic illness that will not get better without effective treatment. It’s as simple as that.”

Shaney Wright

Long COVID Information Advocate

Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people have been left behind by the medical system. We learned this week that health outcomes drastically change based on race, gender, zip codes and more. COVID-19 is no different. According to the CDC, “COVID-19 data shows that Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian and Alaska Native persons in the United States experience higher rates of COVID-19-related hospitalization and death compared with non-Hispanic White populations. These disparities persist even when accounting for other demographic and socioeconomic factors.”

How could this be? Many factors, including systematic racism and ableism; discrimination; the development of mistrust in the medical system from years of mistreatment; exploitation; gaslighting; and disbelief of a person’s own lived experiences among BIPOC and disabled patients, have led to these disparities.

Soon after the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, reports of patients with symptoms that didn’t resolve made headlines. People with chronic illness and those within the disability community advocated on the severity of post-viral illness possibilities linked to the new coronavirus. Disability policy experts warned that COVID-19 could be a mass disabling event, according to The Center for American Progress.

The CDC describes long COVID-19, also known as Post-Acute Sequela of COVID (PASC) or Post-COVID-19 Syndrome (PSC), as the continuation of symptoms related to COVID-19 weeks or months after initial infection. This can include fatigue, muscle pain, cough, mood changes, change in smell or taste, chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, brain fog, sleep problems and more. As of July 2021, long COVID is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). There is not a lot of research yet on long COVID numbers, but early estimates show anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of patients will develop long COVID.

As COVID-19 impacted BIPOC and disability communities at a disproportionately higher rate, there is current concern that this could be the case for long COVID, too. The Journal of Medical Ethics wrote that, “unless clinicians, researchers and policymakers directly address the underlying disparities, the disproportionate burden will further divide the long-term impacts of COVID-19 across racial and socioeconomic lines.”

There is still much to learn about the long-term health impacts of COVID-19. Today’s challenge will give you space to learn more about long COVID and how systematic racism and ableism have created the conditions we see today.


TODAY’S CHALLENGE

Read

Watch

Listen

Act

Reflect And Share

    1. Is there something from today’s challenge that stood out to you? Why or why not?
    2. How did today’s challenge make you feel? What is something you learned today?
    3. Have you or someone you know been impacted by health inequities?
    4. What connections do you see between systematic racism and long COVID? What about ableism and long COVID?
    5. How does this weeks earlier content on healthcare and social determinants of health connect to long COVID?

TALK TO YOUR SOCIAL CIRCLE.

Start the conversation. Send the tweet. Share your story. Make the Facebook post. Sharing what you learn and experience with your family, friends, and co-workers is the first step toward allyship.

Join thousands in conversation by using hastag #EquityChallenge or #TakeTheEC22