NDP demands UCP provide more support for virus long-haulers
The province should officially acknowledge the phenomenon of long-term COVID-19 and take more action to provide support to victims, the Alberta NDP and a patient said Wednesday.
A task force to determine the scope of the problem facing socalled COVID long-haulers who suffer prolonged symptoms is urgently needed, said NDP Leader Rachel Notley.
Such an effort would inform the government on developing disability supports for those suffering myriad long-term symptoms, she said.
“We would ask the premier or his health minister to acknowledge publicly the existence of long COVID in the legislature to dispel the mystery and stigma of the condition and to lay out their plans to support those living with this condition,” said Notley.
That was backed up by Calgarian Stacey Robins, who said she was forced to give up her custom shoe painting business after she and her mother contracted COVID -19 during a business trip to the U.S. in March 2020. Since then, Robins said she's been plagued by a dizzying array of symptoms including fatigue, breathing difficulties, hand tremors, leg pains, brain fog and migraines.
“I've gotten lost in the grocery store and conversations are difficult for me,” she said, adding her mother still experiences severe respiratory problems.
“We must treat this for what it is — a mass disabling event.”
While her family doctor has been exemplary, Robins said the care from specialists has been dismissive.
“Those of us with long haul COVID exist in a grey area; we're not dead but we haven't recovered,” said Robins, 37.
“We need to be believed … I've grieved every part of my life (I've lost), it's confusing and scary.”
Financial and mental-health supports, as well as retraining grants, are crucial for those with long COVID, she said, many of whom don't know how long they'll be among its sufferers.
“There's no doctor anywhere I've seen who's put an end date on this,” said Robins.
Notley said Alberta Health Services' own estimates suggest 20 per cent of COVID -19 cases go on to be long-haulers, currently about 65,000 people in the province.
As of the end of October, Notley said there have been 14,000 claims related to long COVID filed with the Workers' Compensation Board, with 14 per cent of those being rejected.
Four referral clinics specialize in long COVID in Alberta — at the Peter Lougheed Centre and the Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary, plus two sites in Edmonton.
There are also studies underway in Alberta to gauge the size and nature of the phenomenon, including one at the University of Calgary that's partnered with five other sites across the country.
While those efforts are good news, said Notley, “the fact is, more needs to be done.”
A long COVID task force would be similar to efforts taken to combat cancer, addictions and other conditions, she added.
The UCP government's negligence in delaying action against the fourth wave of COVID -19 over the summer has only added to the size of the long-hauler challenge, said Notley.
Last month, a clinician-scientist leading the U of C research said his Calgary clinic has been seeing an increasing number of COVID long haulers and predicted the challenge it'll pose to the province's health-care system will be immense.
“Our clinics are just starting to see patients and there's going to be a big tidal wave coming still,” said Dr. Satish Raj of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute at the University of Calgary.
He also said much more needs to be known about how the phenomenon affects the human body and the true size of the problem.
Officials with Alberta Health didn't respond to a request for comment.