The University of Utah Health’s Long COVID Clinic opened its doors over three years ago. Starting the clinic was like “jumping out of the airplane and assembling the parachute on the way down,” said Jeanette Brown, the clinic’s medical director.
But since then, the clinic has treated over 3,200 patients.
Almost 1 in 5 adults in Utah had long COVID in 2024. Roughly 1 in 12 are still grappling with their symptoms, according to a report from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. Utah has the ninth highest rate of people experiencing long COVID in the United States.
“Anyone can develop long COVID, but people who had a severe COVID-19 infection or who are not up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations are more likely to develop it,” the report said. “Many people recover within one year, but some people only partially recover or do not meaningfully recover.”
Patients looking to treat long COVID can face several barriers, Brown said. The first barrier is knowing the condition exists.
What is Long COVID?
Long COVID refers to a cluster of symptoms that persist at least three months after people recover from the infection. Over 200 symptoms have been associated with long COVID. Fatigue, shortness of breath, “brain fog” and dysregulated heartbeat are some of the most common.
There is currently no laboratory test for long COVID. The condition is diagnosed by a health examination of those who have tested positive for COVID-19 or who have had known exposure to the virus. An examination also includes a look at a patient’s medical history to rule out other explanations, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Long COVID Clinic treats long haulers by addressing their symptoms. Because people experience such a wide range of symptoms, the clinic also provides a wide range of treatments. These include speech therapy for patients experiencing brain fog, and physical and occupational therapy for those struggling from fatigue and other ailments, said Brown. Brown is also an associate professor in the Internal Medicine Division of Respiratory Critical Care and Occupational Medicine at the U.
If needed, the clinic can also connect patients to specialists across 35 sub-fields at the U’s health centers. Brown said the clinic “streamlines” care by providing patients with all the appropriate lab testing before meeting with a specialist, saving them from long wait times before receiving their specialty needs.
“Other comparable large healthcare systems have put together a structure very similar to ours,” she said. “Which makes me feel like we’re all on the right track because we’ve all tried different things, and we’ve all come to this similar model.”
Clinic Funding
The clinic received $4 million from the state legislature in 2023. The expenditures came from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The funding helps expand the clinic’s operating costs and allows it to offer Utahns $5,000 of medical care free if they’re uninsured or out-of-network patients, Brown said.
“[It] can really help because a lot of people are struggling to work full time, work and go to school, or juggle a lot of life tasks like taking care of their family,” she added.
Funding from the CARES Act lasts until 2026. The free $5,000 offering may not end after that period, but is “to be continued” as the clinic looks for other funding sources, Brown said.
“We’re looking at outcomes data to be able to say it’s worth it to continue to fund [the clinic],” she said. “But if you’re able to target a population that then can keep working and paying taxes and going to school and going to church, that is a pretty good selling point.”
Long COVID is not the only infection that can cause a disease state after recovery. Notable infection-associated conditions include post-dengue fatigue syndrome and post-Lyme disease syndrome, among others. Still, patients struggling with long COVID can feel invalidated by medical providers.
“It can be hard because some of those symptoms can be really scary,” Brown said. “If your heart’s beating out of your chest and you think you’re dying and you go to the ER and they tell you that you’re fine, it can be really disturbing.”
“We’re very careful not to discount how people feel,” she said. “We also provide support and say, ‘This is really hard, and we’re walking this journey together.’ You’re not alone, and we can [hopefully] help … get you feeling better and getting back to more of the things you used to enjoy doing.”
