Clinic opens for COVID-19 ‘long-haulers’ at University of Utah Health

University of Utah Health has opened a clinic for COVID-19 “long-haulers,” those who have been diagnosed with the virus and continue to have one or more symptoms that have persisted for weeks or months after initial infection.

In a release, the healthcare system said its post-COVID-19 care clinic is evaluating more than 80 Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) patients a week and has 300 others on a waiting list.

“I’ve heard from a lot of long-hauler patients that they want care from someone who will listen to them and take them seriously,” said Dr. Jeanette Brown, the medical director of the new clinic and a pulmonologist who is an assistant professor of internal medicine at UofU Health. “Our goal is to address their needs in the best and most effective ways we can in an environment where precision, patient-centered care is paramount.”

In the months since the first COVID-19 case was reported in Utah, more than 581,000 incidences of the disease have been confirmed in the state. In most of those cases, the viral infection ran its course without lingering symptoms. But for a few, the effects of the disease have persisted. Overall, studies show up to 50 percent of COVID-19 patients experience post-infection symptoms, Brown said.

The lingering symptoms, ranging from mild to debilitating, include fatigue; shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; cough, joint or chest pain; memory, concentration or sleep problems; muscle pain or headache; loss of smell or taste; depression or anxiety; as well as several other symptoms such as fever.

To address these problems, clinic patients are evaluated by an advance practice clinician or a nurse who, in consultation with Brown, will coordinate care with physicians and practitioners in a number of specialties. Coordinating through a single provider helps specialists concentrate on what they can specifically do for a patient as part of an overall care plan, Brown said.

In addition to patient care, the clinic will also conduct research on the long-term effects of COVID-19 in hopes that it will lead to better treatments.