COVID'S LONG GAME

Despite the perception among many that things are "back to normal," the virus is still spreading, and for 11% of the billions who have had it, things may never be normal again. Three women and their doctors share their experiences with Long COVID days and dark, uncomfortable nights.

- MERYL DAVIDS LANDAU

IF YOU CAME DOWN WITH COVID and after a few sniffly, exhausted, achy days-you bounced back, you are one of the lucky ones. Up to 28 million Americans, the majority of them women, have had symptoms that have lingered for months or years-or developed new and bizarre ones. Some of what ails them may never go away.

Long COVID doesn't look the same for everyone. "Long COVID is an umbrella term encompassing all the long-term effects that remain well after the typical run of the virus," says Ziyad AI-AIy, M.D., a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis. People may have headaches, fatigue, digestive problems, chest pain, brain fog, weird periods, and more.

While researchers are hard at work figuring out causes of and treatments for Long COVID, we wanted to give you a window into what it's like to live with it. Three women share their stories here.

Shannan Riemer

AGE 49

HOME AUSTIN

I'M ASHAMED OF HOW LITTLE I KNEW ABOUT LONG COVID before I was infected in May 2022. I assumed people were simply tired and possibly exaggerating the symptoms most of us experience in today's busy world. I worked at the real estate agency my husband and I own, volunteered for two PTAs, served on a booster club board, exercised daily, went to book clubs, you name it. My life was full and happy. Today I am bedbound.

My family had avoided COVID by taking all the precautions. But when my 11-year-old's archery team made it to the national championships in Kentucky, how could we not go? It was a calculated risk.