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| Good morning, friends of The Short List! It's John, here again with some of the best work of the week from the USA TODAY Network. |
| This week, the COVID-19 pandemic churned out another grim statistic: One out of every 500 Americans has died from the illness. One Florida family lost six of its members in the last three weeks. |
| In addition to the 645,000 Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19, as many as 12 million others took months to recover, or are still struggling. These "long haulers" suffer from what's called Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, better known as long COVID. The USA TODAY Network this week examined the long-term consequences of COVID-19 in the series, "Changed by COVID." |
| Day One: A mysterious malady. Long-haul COVID patients struggle with a huge range of problems, compounded by the emotional drain of not getting better. Some can't even prove they had the disease because testing was unavailable when they were infected. In other cases, they are told it's all in their head. Scientists are still trying to untangle how to diagnose and treat for long COVID-19. |
| Day Two: Long COVID kids. For 7-year-old Waylon Wehrle, complications from COVID-19 stole his memory along with his ability to walk and talk. After months in recovery, he has slowly improved but will have diabetes the rest of his life. About 2% to 3% of kids with COVID struggle with puzzling and sometimes crippling symptoms. Young athletes who have had COVID-19 risk myocarditis – an inflammation of the heart muscle that can lead to sudden death. |
| Day Three: Long-haul COVID-19 clinics. Health care has begun to respond with multidisciplinary clinics that connect patients with a range of experts. They work together to devise a plan, operating without a playbook because treatment guidelines have yet to be written. Many have long waiting lists. The problem is worse in rural America, where health care options are already more limited. |
| Day Four: Economic impact. Long COVID can be devastating financially, as it renders many sufferers unable to work. But the safety nets set up to provide support – workers' compensation and disability – are far from guaranteed. The Social Security Administration denies more than half of disabled worker applications. |
| Day Five: Recovery. Researchers around the world are trying to bring hope to more people by better understanding what's causing long-haul symptoms and identifying safe, effective treatments that will help them recover faster. It won't be easy, in part because long-haul COVID-19 is so new – the consequences of a disease that didn't even have a name until about 18 months ago. Also, symptoms are wide-ranging, and trajectories are varied. Still, there are a few common threads. |
| There are more long reads below. Have a great weekend! |
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