Long-haul COVID impacts Indigenous communities

Since the onset of the global pandemic that flourished in March of 2020, COVID-19 alone has become the third leading cause of death among Americans — falling just behind heart disease and cancer. But perhaps more striking is how the increasing and ongoing health disparities lived by Indigenous communities even now two years into this new reality continues to be overlooked.

Indigenous communities across New Mexico have been doing tremendous work to prevent the widespread of COVID-19, and have protected those most vulnerable in our communities. In the early months of the pandemic, data was collected on how many community members in each Pueblo contracted COVID-19, how many recovered, and how many died from the virus. However, not much data has been collected to-date that helps us understand how many community members suffer from the lingering symptoms and health complications weeks, months, and years after an acute COVID-19 infection. This is what is referred to as long-haul COVID.

Long-haul COVID is a medical condition that is caused by contracting COVID-19 and never making a full recovery, and/or making a full recovery then unexpectedly experiencing symptoms weeks, or months later. Individuals with long-haul COVID reported mostly feeling continuous debilitating fatigue, breathing difficulties, heart palpitations and racing unrelated to anxiety, brain fog, digestive issues, tinnitus, and chest pain weeks after their initial infection.

Research is now indicating that the acute phase of COVID-19 is not the only way COVID-19 impacts our health. Long-haul COVID is yet another health crisis among our Indigenous community members. And as Indigenous communities, we need to continue to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus and provide care for those who are struggling with long-haul COVID illness or further health complications from COVID-19.

As Indigenous communities, we need to understand how those with long-haul COVID, chronic illnesses and disabilities massively impacted by this global pandemic and continue to provide support, care, and protection for those most vulnerable, immunocompromised, disabled, elderly, women, and children in our indigenous communities and every community member. As long-haul COVID is teaching us that it can impact those most healthy as it is found predominantly in women ages 20 to 40. Continuing to prevent community-wide spread of COVID-19 should remain as one of our priorities as indigenous communities. Preventing widespread of COVID-19 by masking, updating indoor air ventilation and filtration, testing, reporting and avoiding mass gatherings that lack safety measures brings justice to those who have passed on due to COVID-19 and those whose health is still suffering from long-haul COVID. As Pueblo and Indigenous communities, we need to continue to stay up to date on current COVID-19 realities and data and continue to do all we can to prevent spread and illness from COVID-19 as our commitment to ending violence against our communities and in particular our native women.

Long COVID has devastated individuals as they struggle to access healthcare and receive a diagnosis, and as these patients are not able to work for months and even years. Some patients have been bed-bound and house-bound for months. Long-haul COVID not only impacts the health of our communities, but our healthcare system. We need to learn from COVID-19 and long-haul COVID on how to continue to care for each other in this global pandemic.

For information about long COVID, search online or reach out to your local healthcare team to talk about long haul COVID, and connect with others who may be experiencing the similar symptoms and health complications post COVID-19 infection.

Chasity Salvador is a community partner with the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, long COVID survivor, and a Pueblo poet, birthworker, seedkeeper, and farmer from the Pueblo of Acoma.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Long-haul COVID impacts Indigenous communities