COVID-19 Symptoms Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

W.Va. Among States With Highest Prevalence Of Long COVID

Workers suffering from Long COVID may be eligible for workplace protections and accommodations under federal law.

West Virginia workers suffering from Long COVID, or long-haul COVID-19, may be eligible for workplace protections and accommodations under federal law.

Long COVID can have varying symptoms that impact work performance, such as fatigue, difficulty concentrating and shortness of breath.

A recent analysis published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that West Virginia was among the states with the highest prevalence rate of Long Covid in the country.

In 2022, nearly 6.9 percent of U.S. adults reported ever experiencing Long COVID while a range of 8.9 to 10.6 percent of West Virginians reported symptoms.

According to Tracie DeFreitas, a program leader with the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a service that is funded by the Office of Disability Employment Policy, job accommodation can take on many forms.

“There are some general categories or sort of common types of accommodations that are available or might be requested by individuals that can include things like job restructuring, where you might be modifying when or how certain job functions are performed,” DeFreitas said.

Workers may have difficulty working the same way they did before and may be entitled to temporary or longer-term support that can help them stay on the job or return to work once ready. Federal laws like the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provide protections and accommodations for workers with Long COVID.

“Once a person with Long COVID asks for an accommodation, the employer and the individual will engage in that accommodation process,” DeFreitas said. “It’s a basically they take those steps to kind of figure out what the individual’s needs are, and in doing that, there is a series of sort of asking relevant questions to help them the employer understand what the individual’s needs are to kind of work through the situation to figure out what the person’s limitations are, how those are affecting job duties.”

Accommodations for Long COVID may include telework, flexible schedules and job restructuring.

“When we think about accommodations, we really want to keep an open mind and be creative,” DeFreitas said. “We know that telework, for example, has been an accommodation that can be beneficial to many people with disabilities, but especially those with Long COVID. It can help to sort of decrease or eliminate commuting to work, which can oftentimes deplete energy levels. And so this might allow someone to return to work sooner than anticipated.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

Officials Advise Caution Against Fall Respiratory Illness

A new vaccine to protect against the many strains of COVID-19 will be available at the end of September.

Dr. Clay Marsh, the state’s coronavirus czar, stressed that threats from the coronavirus haven’t gone away during Gov. Jim Justice’s regular briefing.

“Many people are asking, why would I need to consider this updated shot and the reason why is because this shot is directed against the newest and latest most common forms of COVID-19 that are circulating,” Marsh said.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reported three additional deaths attributed to COVID-19 since last week’s update for a total of 8,183.

Marsh said the new vaccine is highly effective at protecting against the most common forms of the virus, belonging to the Omicron family.

While COVID-19 is still a threat, Marsh also cautioned against other forms of respiratory illness that become prolific in the fall. A new preventative medication against Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV) will be available and Marsh recommends those 8 months and younger receive the preventative medication.

For adults more than 60 years old, Marsh recommends the new RSV vaccine to avoid the illness.

“That RSV shot is truly a vaccine and we recommend that anyone over 60 or any child eight months and under be given those respective shots with the winter upcoming,” Marsh said.

According to Marsh, the benefit of the vaccines that have been given is limited to about four to six months and recommended those in high-risk groups check the state’s vaccine calculator to check if they are up to date on their shots.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

COVID-19 Numbers Rising, New Variant, New Vaccine

Dr. Clay Marsh said a new vaccine due out in mid-September will prove extremely helpful in COVID-19 protection.

West Virginia University Chief Health Officer Dr. Clay Marsh said that the variant EG.5 is now the most common form of COVID-19 in the nation and on the upswing in West Virginia. In a Wednesday media briefing with Gov. Jim Justice, Marsh said the variant is not more severe, but more evasive to the immune system.

“It is able to trick the immune system for people even who’ve had vaccines in the past,” Marsh said. “Even those who’ve had COVID in the past. So we are seeing an upswing in the number of people that are being infected.”

Marsh said a new vaccine due out in mid-September will prove extremely helpful in COVID-19 protection.

“It really does appear that this new vaccine will be very, very effective, and give us more protection against this new variant,” he said.

Marsh said people over 65 should be more careful now along with people that have illnesses or genetic conditions that make them immunosuppressed.

“In other words, people taking chemotherapy right now for cancer or taking drugs to influence immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease or inflammatory bowel disease,” Marsh said. “Those medications that are being used can suppress your immune system.”

Marsh suggested early fall will be a good time for everyone to get their flu, COVID-19 and a new RSV vaccine, protecting against the respiratory syncytial virus.

“The RSV vaccine is particularly important for children and older West Virginia citizens,” he said. “RSV can give people a pretty severe illness who are really young, or or that are older, and the flu vaccine is good for all of us,18 and over.”

Marsh said the flu vaccine, the RSV vaccine, and the COVID-19 vaccine all should be taken around the same time period, in the September-October timeframe.

'It Felt Like Somebody Took My Lungs Away From Me' — W.Va. Nurse Shares Her COVID-19 Experience

Letha Mullins lives in Logan County, West Virginia, and works as a registered travel nurse in Kentucky. In March, she was diagnosed with COVID-19 and spent more than two weeks in self-isolation. In this audio postcard recorded Tuesday, April 7, she talks about how the virus took a toll on her body and her spirit.

Mullins, who is 29 years old, first noticed feeling short of breath on her break at work in Lexington, Kentucky on March 20. She said at first, it wasn’t too bad.

“About three-and-a-half hours after I was home, I spiked the temperature of 102,” Mullins said. “And immediately it was instantaneous. I could not breathe; I developed a cough.”

By the time she made it to urgent care, she said she was in respiratory distress.

“I could not speak three or four words without having to gasp for air,” Mullins recalled. “It felt like there was pressure all around my lungs, preventing them from expanding the way they should. And it felt like I was inhaling and exhaling through dense cotton.”

Mullins said it took about a day to get the test results, which confirmed had COVID-19.

What followed was days of self-quarantine at home. Mullins said she felt isolated and was told there was little anyone could do for her unless she got worse and needed emergency care.

“To be alone and think this virus could kill me is one of the most mentally and emotionally strenuous things I have ever been through,” she said.

Mullins has recovered and returned to work as a travel nurse. She hopes sharing her experience offers insight into the toll this virus can take and bolsters the message we’re all hearing right now, which is to stay home.

“I am you. I’m not a celebrity. I’m not part of the CDC or the government. I am a 29 year old, lifelong resident of West Virginia, from one average person to another this is not a hoax,” she said. “I’m very proud to be from West Virginia and I’m very proud of my roots. But right now, isn’t the time for pride right now is the time for consideration and we should consider each other and how we are affecting each other.”