(WXYZ) — America is experiencing a summer surge of COVID, driven by a new variant.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, test positivity is up by 10 percent. Emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and deaths are also up. And while COVID is still changing lives with new infections, millions of Americans are still battling older COVID infections, some from the earliest days of the pandemic, including Sylvan Lake's Jeffory Whitmer.
"You know you're sick, you don't look sick, and the doctors can't find anything wrong with you," Jeff said.
For nearly four years, this has been his reality. A battle with long COVID since shortly after the 42-year-old first contracted the virus in late 2020. The original virus cleared but some symptoms remained.
"Racing heart, shortness of breath and general aches and pains, intestinal issues, all sorts of stuff," Jeff said. "(But) all the tests came back normal."
Even now, nearly four years later, Jeff says it’s still a challenge making it through the day due to debilitating fatigue. As an architect, Jeff works from his home, but says he has to lay down to rest. It’s the only way to make it through the day.
"That's my lunch break is I go and take a nap and then I finish out the day," Jeff said. "That's the only way I can finish the day."
"Could you have imagined that four years later, you'd still be battling symptoms of Covid?" I asked him.
"No, not a chance," Jeff replied. "I never thought that was a possibility."
Sadly, Jeff’s story is not unique. Long COVID affects millions of Americans and they, like Jeff, are struggling with symptoms for months and years and searching for answers for just as long.
One doctor I spoke to — Dr. Teena Chopra, a Co-director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at Wayne State University — told me we know more about Long COVID than we did a few years ago.
"I think the biggest news I would tell you is that now we have a definition of long Covid," Dr. Chopra said.
She says early on, rates of long COVID were all over the place because there was no standardized criteria for long COVID.
"As low as 2% to anywhere, up to 75%, because everybody was using different definitions," Dr. Chopra told me.
According to the National Academy of sciences, long COVID is an “infection associated chronic condition” that occurs after a covid infection that lasts for at least three months and affects one or more organ systems. It can be continuous, relapsing and remitting or progressive. That definition allows health care providers to identify and treat more patients. Research suggests Long COVID is likely related to a revved up autoimmune response. Dr. Chopra calls that a crucial understanding.
"If we know, that the cause, then we can develop therapies to treat it and also potentially cure it," Dr. Chopra said.
But until then, COVID long haulers like Jeff can only fight to manage their symptoms. For that they turn to medication. But the emotional toll is much more difficult to handle.
While his wife and kids are understanding, Jeff says at times he feels like he’s letting down the people he loves the most because he can’t do what he used to.
"I didn't do this. I didn't choose to do this, but it happened. So how do you reconcile that in your own mind? And it can be difficult," Whitmer said. "It can change your whole world and your whole life."
Jeff says if you want to help someone with long COVID, the best thing you can do is to believe them. He says your empathy can be really important to someone struggling physically and emotionally just to make it through the day.
Dr. Chopra says there is still a lot we don't know about long covid, but we do know that the vaccinated are less likely to get long-hauler syndrome. And getting vaccinated even after you get long COVID can help manage long COVID symptoms.
