‘I no longer am able to learn’
One year after getting COVID, these locals still suffer horrific ailments
‘I feel like there’s an earthquake every day’
IT’S been a year since COVID-19 really hit New York. But some of the first locals to catch the virus are still experiencing debilitating symptoms that have made it impossible to live life as they had been — leading to job loss and an inability to read or study, let alone exercise. “We don’t understand why the body is responding in this way,” said Dr. David Putrino, director of rehabilitation innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System, who researches these so-called “long-haul” patients. He estimated that about 90 percent of participants in the hospital’s long-hauler program, with a median age of 42, didn’t require hospitalization while they had COVID.
“Now, what we’re seeing is, in these less severe cases [of the virus] — much younger, disproportionately previously fit and healthy [patients] — there’s extreme response after the acute [initial] symptoms have gone,” Dr. Putrino told The Post. Here, four New Yorkers — all of whom say they had been in good health and none who were hospitalized with the virus — reveal the hopelessness and isolation caused by their long-haul cases of COVID.
Helen Thompson Buffong is 46, but “It’s like I turned 80 overnight,” said the mom of two kids, ages 6 and 8, with whom she can no longer keep up. “I don’t have the stamina. I have to wave goodbye at the door rather than go to the park.”
The married Brooklynite got sick on April 2, and had been unable to work as a part-time student-support adviser until last week. “I get hives and swelling every day, all over. I always have an EpiPen and steroids with me in case my face starts to swell.”
Neuropathy causes a relentless internal vibration in her whole body. “When I wake up, I feel like there’s an earthquake every day,” she said. “A doctor said it can take years, if I heal at all.”
‘I take 40 milligrams of melatonin at night, which is ridiculous’
“I feel like I’m still me, just less so — which is terrifying,” said Leigh Jerome, a Bushwick resident in her 50’s, who fell ill on March 5, 2020.
What began with a cough and sore throat led to bilateral pneumonia — and long-haul symptoms with weeks-long relapses. They include full-body rashes, heart-rate fluctuations, dizziness and a fatigue that fully drains her. She now takes some 25 medications and supplements at night just to sleep.
I take 40 milligrams of melatonin at night, which is ridiculous,” said Jerome, who’s married with no kids. (A more typical dose is 5 mg.)
Before contracting COVID, Jerome, the founder of the nonprofit gallery Relational Space, spent her afternoons in her art studio, creating pieces out of metal.
“The idea of going up and cutting a piece of metal and grinding it … just thinking about it puts me into a relapse,” she said. “I do try to at least sit in the studio [pictured], which I know sounds a little absurd, but it’s part of who I am.”
Beginning April 29, Relational Space will hold a virtual immersive installation, “Long COVID — We Are Here!” to raise awareness and urge for more research and therapeutics.
“The only thing that keeps me from complete despair is that I keep a positive attitude,” Jerome said. “I do believe that I’m going to get well.”