COVID “long carriers” celebrate recognition after state adds stories to website

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Thousands of Utahns treating symptoms months after being diagnosed with COVID-19 feel they are finally receiving recognition.

These “long carriers” said a recent article posted on the state’s coronavirus website helps them feel listened to and also connect others to their resources.

“We’re real people who take care of that, with families and jobs that some of us haven’t been able to get back to,” said Lisa O’Brien, creator of Utah’s COVID-19 Long Haulers Facebook group.

It’s been almost a year since O’Brien was diagnosed with COVID-19. But, like a handful of others, his symptoms did not go away.

“Some of us have experienced crazy heart rhythms, crazy blood pressure. I lost about half of my hair probably because of the stress my body went through,” O’Brien said.

He founded the COVID-19 Long Haulers Facebook group in Utah, which now has more than 2,000 members, as a platform for people to discuss their symptoms and share resources.

“Long carriers have been left out of the main courier,” he said. “Almost all this time we have the count of cases, the count of recovery, the count of deaths and now we count the vaccines. But you know, we haven’t really counted the ones that haven’t recovered.”

With the state posting about long-haul carriers and sharing some of the stories on its website, O’Brien felt they were finally receiving recognition.

“It’s great to be recognized,” he said. “It’s great for people to know that having these symptoms in the long run is a real risk.”

He hopes articles like these will help give hope to those in similar situations and a place to turn.

“Of course, we don’t have all the answers, yes, we’re still learning a lot, but we do know chunks of it,” he said.

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Ashley Moser