Fatigue is a common long-lasting after-effect of COVID.
Image Credit: PEXELS/Andrea Piacquadio
April 14, 2022 - 7:00 AM
With hundreds of residents in the Interior Health region suffering lingering COVID symptoms months after they contracted the disease, there may come a time when there will be a long-COVID clinic closer than the Lower Mainland.
Currently there are three such clinics in the Lower Mainland and one in Victoria.
“Patients can access those clinics virtually so they do not need to travel,” states an email from Interior Health to iNFOnews.ca. “We are exploring options for clinics in Interior Health.”
Interior Health did not provide any numbers of how many residents are suffering from long COVID.
Given that more than 17% of confirmed COVID cases in B.C. have been in the Interior Health region, that number is likely in the hundreds.
READ MORE: No long-COVID clinics in Interior Health despite hundreds of possible cases
“Every person in British Columbia, including those experiencing long-COVID, deserve quality healthcare,” states and email from the Ministry of Health to iNFOnews.ca “That’s why patients and caregivers, with a referral, can access services through one of the clinics in the Post-COVID-19 Interdisciplinary Clinical Care Network.”
To date, 171 people from Interior Health have been referred to the network’s clinics.
There was no mention of how many actually made the journey to a clinic.
In all, more than 3,300 referrals to the post-COVID network have been accepted in B.C.
A Government of Canada website says there have been reports of more than 100 long-COVID symptoms.
It says that 80% of people infected with COVID have lingering symptoms four weeks after being infected and 60% after 12 weeks. Ten per cent are unable to return to work.
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