With the latest rise in hospitalizations from COVID-19, the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) launched a statewide campaign Wednesday, Jan. 26.
“One in three people who survive COVID experience long COVID symptoms. Some of the more surprising symptoms include hair loss, brain fog, erectile dysfunction, shortness of breath, prolonged loss of taste and smell,”
The #ThisIsLongCOVID campaign spotlights real Missourians sharing their experiences with surprising and often debilitating long-term symptoms, known as long COVID, according to a statement. It includes a mix of radio and digital ads featuring long COVID patients and physicians from across the state.
According to the St. Louis Pandemic Task Force, the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant in conjunction with the low number of vaccination rates in St. Louis is fueling a dramatic surge in hospitalizations. Currently, only about 54% of Missourians are fully vaccinated, according to the campaign statement. The campaign intertwines facts and compelling long COVID stories told by the patients themselves.
COVID long-hauler Shantell Williams said she hopes the ads will encourage more Missourians to get vaccinated against the virus.
“Seven weeks after recovering from COVID, my hair started falling out. It came out in clumps. My husband had to shave my head. It was devastating,” Williams, a Missouri resident, said. “People may not know all the ways COVID can wreak havoc in your life. I hope people will hear my story and get vaccinated.”
According to a campaign statement, Long COVID, also known as Post COVID syndrome or long haul COVID, represents the wide range of new, returning, or exacerbated health problems people experience four or more weeks after a COVID infection.
A recent study from the Missouri Foundation of Health found as many as one in three people who survive COVID experience long COVID symptoms. Some of the more surprising symptoms include hair loss, brain fog, erectile dysfunction, shortness of breath, prolonged loss of taste and smell, and several other neurological and respiratory conditions.
“There has been so much information shared since the start of the pandemic, and we hope that by partnering with real Missouri physicians and those who have experienced long COVID firsthand that we are helping families understand the long-term impact,” Dr. Dwayne Proctor, president and CEO of MFH, said. “We are learning that a COVID infection can deliver a major blow to one’s health regardless of age or current health status, so vaccines are still the best protection.”
Proctor said 73% of Missourians aged 18 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
“We want information like that to be known but we also want people to know about ‘Long COVID,’” Proctor said. “Having people from Missouri hear from other Missourians firsthand about their experience with Long COVID is what we hope will help them make the decision to get vaccinated.”
Proctor said this is one of the many campaigns that have run during the pandemic, and as the public health crisis shifts, MFH shifts and adapts to meet the needs of the community.
“We know that vaccinations are the best protection out there and quite simply, the goals of the campaign are people to get vaccinated,” he said. “We want people to know that vaccinations are free and available within five miles of their home, and we want groups of people like African Americans, who are lower in their vaccination rates, to really think about this and understand that Long COVID is a risk.”
