Experts Warn of Racial Disparities in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Long Covid

It has long been clear that Black Americans have experienced high rates of coronavirus infection, hospitalization, and death throughout the pandemic. But those factors are now leading experts to sound the alarm about what may come next: a prevalence of long Covid in the Black community and a lack of access to treatment.

Long Covid — with chronic symptoms like fatigue, cognitive problems and others that linger for months after an acute coronavirus infection has cleared up — has perplexed researchers, and many are working hard to find a treatment for people experiencing it. But health experts warn that crucial data is missing: Black Americans have not been sufficiently included in long-Covid trials, treatment programs and registries, according to the authors of a new report released on Tuesday.

The report, called "The State of Black America and COVID-19," outlines how disinvestment in health care in Black communities contributed to Black people contracting Covid at higher rates than white people. Black people were then more likely to face serious illness or death as a result.

The Black Coalition Against Covid, the Yale School of Medicine and the Morehouse School of Medicine were authors of the report, which also offers recommendations to policy leaders.