New Brunswick seeks to help people with long COVID, but timeline unclear

Help could soon be on the way for New Brunswickers who suffer from long COVID.

The Department of Health and both regional health authorities "aim to work together to a offer a trajectory of care" for those with long COVID, also known as post-COVID-19 condition, said department spokesperson Valerie Kilfoil.

She could not immediately provide an estimatedtimeline, but said the goal is to haveteams trained on the "constantly evolving research in conjunction with the objectives in the Provincial Health Plan."

Thursday is National Long COVIDAwareness Day, organized by researchers with the Public Health Agency of Canada to shine a light on the need for better research, and better treatment.

New Brunswick has facedcriticism from citizens and opposition politicians for being slow to address or even acknowledge the issue.

Last week, New Brunswick officials met with otherprovincial and territory representatives, medical and scientific experts to discuss emerging research regarding long COVIDand existing care modelsfrom international and Canadian jurisdictions, said Kilfoil.

"Long COVID is a rapidly evolving field of study and the scientific community's understanding of COVID-19 continues to evolve daily," she said in an emailed statement.

"Many provinces and jurisdictions are taking stock of the emerging trends and research and are looking at ways to address the health care needs of patients experiencing long COVID symptoms."

The term long COVID, coined in 2020 as a Twitter hashtagby Dr. Elisa Perego, anhonorary research fellowat University College London, to describe her own experience with the virus,refers to any of more than 200 symptoms that develop after severe, mildly symptomatic, or asymptomatic COVID-19 infection and cannot be explained by alternative diagnoses.

The most common symptoms, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, are fatigue, memory problems, anxiety, depression and even post-traumatic stress disorder.

Affecting a 'significant proportion' of cases

Last month, New Brunswick's acting deputychief medical officer of health, Dr. Yves Lger,said long COVID is affecting "a significant proportion of COVID cases," and is "quite debilitating for some."

Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, has said recent research indicates as many as halfof people infected with the virus willgo on to have symptoms of long COVID.

The Public Health Agency of Canada and Statistics Canadahave launched a surveyto get a broad idea of how common it is for people to feel lingering effects after COVID-19 infection.

Only twoprovinces have "established co-ordinated patient care pathways and shared key learnings from their experiences," said Kilfoil. She did not identify the provinces.

"Common elements reported across the limited number of existing models across the globe included: primary care pathways, specialty clinics, standardized symptoms assessment tools, virtual care and access to rehabilitation services," she said.

Online national town hall

As part ofLong COVID Awareness Day, anationaltown hallwill be held online between 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. AT.

"We are teaming up with many organizations and individuals to bring awareness to this condition and prepare an effective response," organizers state.

Many countries,including the U.S. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the U.K., as well asthe World Health Organization (WHO), have all created definitions of post-COVID-19 condition, or post-acute COVID sequelae (PACS).

But the lack of a standard definition across international health authorities and researchers "prevents us from effectively studying and measuring the prevalence of this condition," the organizers state.

"Canada has fallen behind and we are urging our health authorities to provide us with a proper definition and appropriate response."

Nova Scotia has post-COVID team

New Brunswick has agroup ofscientistsin Moncton gathering as much information as possible on long COVID symptoms, what patients need to recover and the risk factors, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard told reporters last month.

"It's all still relatively new. So that data is still being collected. And we'll be working with our[regional health authority] partners and those who have a handle on long COVID to see how we need to proceed in the future," shesaid.

In Nova Scotia,health officialslast fall started proactivelycalling COVID-19 patients three months after their initial diagnosisto ask whether they had lingering symptoms.

Abouthalf of patientsoverage 16reported having one symptom. Ten per cent had some sort of functional impairment, such as brain fog or muscle weakness.

Apost-COVIDteam now works with roughly 300 ofthose patients, offering access to health specialists and support groups to aid in their recovery.