Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- A new study reveals that approximately 1 in 12 Utahns is affected by long COVID, experiencing diverse physical, mental, emotional and financial challenges.
- The report stresses the need for increased recognition and support for these individuals and their caregivers, highlighting that vaccination is the best prevention method.
- Personal stories from Utahns suffering from long COVID illustrate its profound impact affecting their daily life and mental health.
SALT LAKE CITY — Blake Bockholt says he used to be very active. He was a high school English teacher who would go running, cycling and canyoneering.
Bockholt suffers from long COVID.
"My life is completely different than I thought it would ever be," he said Wednesday at an event announcing a new long COVID study.
It took Bockholt a few years to figure out where his boundaries were. He said he should have stopped teaching two years earlier than he did. He kept teaching, reducing the number of classes he taught to what most teachers taught, and then fewer than most teachers.
As he pushed himself each day, it would take a large toll on his body — something called post exertion malaise — and he could not recover. That led him to lash out at his family, and eventually his principal stopped by his house and told him he needed to go on disability and stop working.
"I knew the limits were a long time ago. It was coming to terms with that," he said.
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services released a report on Wednesday saying long COVID is significantly impacting many Utahns. The report is designed to provide information to medical providers, patients and others to help all Utahns have similar opportunities for living healthy lives.
"About one out of every 12 Utahns is experiencing long COVID and facing the physical, mental, emotional and financial impacts that can arise. There is a significant unmet need to acknowledge and support these patients and their caregivers," the report says.
Bockholt said now his goals are to take care of his physical and mental health so he can be there for his family. If an activity doesn't benefit his physical or mental health or his family's well-being, he doesn't do it.
He said he is doing much better than he was six months ago, but he does not think he will ever get back into a classroom. Although, he still pushes himself too hard at times, specifically for going to his children's games on the weekends.
"There are some things worth overdoing it," he said.
The report says 57% of Utahns with long COVID reported severe symptoms, or symptoms that had a significant daily impact, in a 2022 survey sent out to anyone who wanted to report, while 43% reported mild symptoms. Rachel Kubiak, the study's primary author, said she estimates a survey including all patients would show between 15% and 25% reporting severe symptoms.
"I feel that it's really important for people to know that this is a real condition. It's relatively common," she said.
One in 12 people suffering is decreasing slightly and she hopes they can continue to reduce the risk of long COVID.
Those with severe long COVID are twice as likely as the average person to have symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Cindy Wynette, a vaccine program manager with the health department who also had lingering symptoms of COVID-19, said she felt alone and didn't have anybody to vent to. She appreciated being able to have discussions in a long COVID Facebook group, which she also used to find resources.
"I was so lucky that my symptoms weren't as severe," she said. "But I can tell you that after about two years, it really did start to get to me."
Wynette said her senses of smell and taste were gone for about a year, and after that they were severely distorted for even longer — which made it hard to cook food for her family and eat.
Now she said she gets each COVID-19 vaccine because she doesn't know what would happen if she contracted COVID-19 again and doesn't want to find out.
The report said the best way to prevent long COVID is with vaccinations.
Lisa O'Brien was on the health department's long COVID committee from its beginning and helped review the study. She said the 1 in 12 statistic was not surprising and is a lower percentage than what she had seen estimated.
She was bedridden by long COVID and said her heart rate would spike anytime she stood up.
"My body just could not regulate and do, like, the normal things that it was supposed to do," she said.
O'Brien said she cycled through about 50 different symptoms. At first, doctors attributed her symptoms to anxiety or the power of suggestion. Eventually she became involved in long COVID communities online. She is one of the first 300 in an international Facebook support group and started a Utah-based one.
Now, she said she is mostly better; she has mild symptoms, sometimes feeling her heart speed up more than it should or waking up in the night with a crazy heart rate — something that is scary for her.
The study found that of people in Utah with long COVID, 54.5% reported excellent or very good health, while 14.1% reported fair or poor health. In the last month at the time of the survey in 2022, 11.3% reported their physical health was not good for at least half of the days, and 16.5% reported their mental health was not good at least half of the time.
O'Brien was a mail carrier for 20 years and said she lived an active life. She didn't want to wonder if that part of her life was gone.
"I wasn't gonna let that happen. I was gonna go out and find help … and take everybody with me," she said.
She got involved in advocacy work early on, even while she was bedridden. She said she knew Utahns were going to need help and there were more people and she didn't want other people to need to follow the same path she was forced to take.
Correction: This story was updated to include more context to a survey on severe symptoms, which did not have a representative sample.
