{"id":3011,"date":"2025-09-05T04:47:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T04:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/3011\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T04:47:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T04:47:04","slug":"long-covid-hitting-doctors-and-nurses-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/3011\/","title":{"rendered":"Long COVID Hitting Doctors and Nurses Hard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeffrey Siegelman, MD, contracted COVID-19 in August 2020 and, 3 months later, published a paper<\/a> online in JAMA about his experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, he\u2019s still dealing with the symptoms, as one of many healthcare providers who have long COVID. He said his experience highlights the impact of long COVID on hundreds of thousands of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers, by some estimates, who have been on the frontlines fighting the pandemic from the beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reflect on that paper from JAMA, and I thought that 3 months was a long time,\u201d said Siegelman, associate professor of emergency medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine and a practicing emergency room doctor in Atlanta. \u201cAnd here I am, 5 years later, and I still have symptoms. I think that\u2019s the case for a lot of patients with long COVID, that it just keeps getting longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estimating the precise number of US healthcare workers like Siegelman affected by long COVID is challenging. But several new studies suggest the toll of long COVID has affected healthcare workers in the US more than other Americans who have experienced or are currently living with long COVID.<\/p>\n

A recent study<\/a> published in Frontiers in Public Health, which surveyed 1678 US healthcare workers, found that 7.7% reported experiencing long COVID. Another study<\/a>, published in the Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran in March 2023, involving 445 healthcare workers, reported a prevalence of 9.44%. Outside the US, a systematic review of long COVID\u2019s impact on the National Health System out of the UK found that 18% of healthcare workers were out of work due to the condition.<\/p>\n

David Putrino, PhD, physical therapist and director of rehabilitation innovation at the Mount Sinai Health System, New York City, who has been helping those with long COVID recover, has seen a fair number of healthcare workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say 5%-7% of the people who are coming into our center right now are healthcare workers,\u201d he said. His clinic has treated around 3500 people with long COVID and sees 500-700 new patients per year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHealthcare workers are probably where we do start to see disproportionate effects of long COVID,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

From Acute to Chronic COVID Symptoms<\/p>\n

Siegelman said his long COVID symptoms are far different from what he initially experienced, making it difficult for him to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, I had fever, headaches, some chills, but it wasn\u2019t bad,\u201d he said. \u201cI was able to stay at home, and I had no respiratory issues at that point. Over these years, I\u2019ve had little setbacks, sometimes big setbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

His low-grade fevers refused to abate, and he quarantined himself in his basement for 40 days to isolate himself from his family, speaking with them through FaceTime or walkie-talkies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Siegelman was out of work for about 6 months before returning, and only in a limited capacity, which he said made him feel as though a burden was placed on his colleagues. He could initially only work just 4 hours at a time during day shifts.<\/p>\n

It took Siegelman 2 years before he was able to return to regular, full-time work \u2014 but with some restrictions due to the chronic nature of his condition. He can\u2019t work night shifts and still lives with fatigue, hypertension<\/a>, and palpitations that require consistent therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still on a pile of medicine, [though] it\u2019s fewer than I used to be on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said several emergency medicine physicians he knows have been living with worse cases of long COVID. One couldn\u2019t return to work in a clinical capacity at all, forced to relinquish a career she loved and transition into an administrative role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In April 2024, Siegelman published a study<\/a> in the journal Topics in Antiviral Medicine, which detailed the stories of two physicians who became patients. One couldn\u2019t work for 5 months and then could only work limited, part-time shifts for several years. The other physician experienced brain fog and other cognitive issues that made it difficult to carry out crucial clinical tasks like delivering patient reports and presentations to supervisors. He also said he had to \u201cdo more, read more, and work harder to retain the same information as previously.\u201d<\/p>\n

20 Million Americans Live With Long COVID<\/p>\n

A recent Yale-led study<\/a> found that 20 million Americans have been diagnosed with long COVID, suggesting potentially hundreds of thousands of US healthcare workers have been affected. Months after their initial infection, these people struggle to return to work, let alone be productive.<\/p>\n

According to a January 2025 report<\/a> from the US Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, nearly 1 in 4 healthcare workers (23.5%) with long COVID reported their symptoms significantly affected their work. Arjun Venkatesh, MD, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, and a lead author of the Yale-led study, has observed the mental and physical toll long COVID has had on his fellow colleagues suffering from the condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The five most prevalent symptoms among people who missed more than 10 workdays were fatigue, headache<\/a>, muscle aches, joint pains, and shortness of breath. Those with these specific symptoms were also the most likely to experience work loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Venkatesh has mostly observed colleagues contracting COVID at home rather than at work. For those who later develop long COVID, treatment access remains an issue. Being a healthcare professional doesn\u2019t necessarily guarantee better access to care or treatment than the average person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard colleagues say something to the effect of \u2018I\u2019ve tried everything I could find\u2026despite that, nothing has worked,\u2019\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Job Stress Exacerbates the Problem<\/p>\n

Putrino said the high-stress nature of many healthcare jobs makes workers in the medical industry especially vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a physician working in a critical care setting\u2026you may have to work 4 or 5 hours beyond your shift,\u201d he said. \u201cThat creates a really dangerous situation for people in the healthcare setting who live with long COVID because it means they could easily experience a crash as a result of pushing far beyond their energy envelope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Healthcare workers may not seek treatment before their illness spirals out of control, for a number of reasons, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that there is a stigma associated with healthcare workers admitting that they have an unmanaged chronic condition,\u201d Putrino said. \u201cSo many healthcare workers that I\u2019ve spoken to have said that due to minimizing comments from their colleagues or just a general fear of not being believed, they haven\u2019t accessed care until their symptoms got really out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aileen Grant, PhD, a research fellow at the University of Stirling in Stirling, Scotland, has published a systematic review<\/a> of the impact long COVID has on healthcare workers working within the National Health System in the UK.<\/p>\n

Grant\u2019s study found that 18% of participants were out of work due to their symptoms, but a large percentage of people continued to work despite their condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur occupational health policies really aren\u2019t fit for an episodic disability,\u201d Grant said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost a dichotomy between being in work or being out of work, whereas these people\u2019s symptoms can fluctuate over time, and they can have crashes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misunderstanding Long COVID\u2019s Impact<\/p>\n

After National Health Service (NHS) workers on the frontlines combated the initial waves of the pandemic, they felt virtually ignored by the system they put their lives on the line for after being stricken themselves, Grant said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were working a frontline occupation to help the NHS in its time of need, and then they were being abandoned once they took ill,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Ireland, four nurses with long COVID profiled in The Irish Examiner<\/a> said their lives have never been the same since their initial infection, with none being able to return to work. They feel their voices are being ignored.<\/p>\n

The Health Service Executive \u2014 Ireland\u2019s publicly funded healthcare system \u2014 continues to fight its requests for sick leave. All four nurses belong to a group of around 160 Health Service Executive staff who rely on a special pay scheme to support them through long COVID.<\/p>\n

Advocacy for policies that support long COVID research, treatment, and patient care is also lacking, healthcare workers say.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Venkatesh fears the Trump administration\u2019s pullback in funding for COVID research may further hinder efforts to understand how to treat long COVID.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [Biden] administration had an entire office centered around long COVID\u2026with a registry funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the future holds with this new administration.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Siegelman, MD, contracted COVID-19 in August 2020 and, 3 months later, published a paper online in JAMA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[4386,2347,134,527,4391,111,139,1374,69,4387,4388,4390,4389],"class_list":["post-3011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-covid-19-coronavirus-2019-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-wuhan-coronavirus-corona-virus-covid19-novel-coronavirus-sars-cov-2","tag-grant","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-national-health-service","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nhs","tag-nz","tag-post-acute-sequelae-of-sars-cov-2-infection-post-acute-sequelae-of-sars-cov-2-infection-pasc-long-covid","tag-uk-national-health-service","tag-uk-nhs","tag-united-kingdom-national-health-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}