Today Senator Bernie Sanders and the Covid-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project (C19LAP) announced a resolution to formally designate March 15 as Long Covid Awareness Day.
International organizers with Long Covid selected March 15 as a date for raising awareness last year, while identifying March as Long Covid Awareness Month. This year, advocates around the world have observed Long Covid Awareness Day through a variety of events, protests, and other advocacy efforts.
“This resolution is a major step in letting the Long Covid community know that we are not being left behind, that we are seen, that Long Covid is real, and that there are people still fighting for us,” Karyn Bishof, founder and president of C19LAP, said in a press release about the resolution.
The resolution, penned by Sen. Sanders and C19LAP, recognizes that Long Covid affects millions of Americans and describes it as “often debilitating and disabling.” The resolution also highlights that this disease has the potential to worsen preexisting health conditions and can cause death months to years after an acute Covid-19 infection.
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that more than 5,000 people have died of Long Covid, though outside researchers say that number is likely a significant undercount. Sen. Sanders’ resolution also mentions lifelong conditions that Long Covid can trigger, including dysautonomia, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS).
Sen. Sanders’ action “is a major step in destigmatizing and depoliticizing Covid-19, Long Covid, and the necessary protection measures to prevent death and disability such as masking,” Bishof said in the press release.
Advocates escalated their calls to increase awareness about the disease this month following a change to CDC guidance for people infected with SARS-CoV-2 on March 1. The new CDC recommendations aren’t supported by a change in data or science on infectiousness and received heavy backlash. Many people with Long Covid were also disappointed last week when President Biden failed to address the disease during his State of the Union Address, despite experts and advocates’ calls for him to do so.
Sen.Sanders, however, has emerged as one federal leader acknowledging the Long Covid crisis. The Awareness Day resolution follows a hearing about Long Covid research and healthcare that he led in January, as Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee.
“Despite its far reaches, one-third of the public still has not heard of Long Covid and a majority of healthcare providers are not confident diagnosing or treating the condition,” said Lisa McCorkell, co-founder of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative in the press release. Recognizing Long Covid Awareness Day could encourage a more robust response from the federal government in supporting public education, clinical trials, and research funding, she added.
Sen. Sanders’ resolution coincides with a Covid Memorial Day resolution, written by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ed Markey, and Kristin Urquiza of the group Marked By Covid, which seeks to establish the first Monday of every March as “Covid Victims Memorial Day” to remember the over one million people who have died since the beginning of the pandemic. Either resolution may pass with a Senate vote, leading to recognition from this legislature. (The House of Representatives’ rules for commemorative dates are more complicated.).
“The pandemic is very much still ongoing, and we may be in an even worse situation now due to complacency and rollbacks of public health funding and guidance,” Urquiza said in the press release.
Bishof and her organization urge the public to support the Long Covid Awareness Day resolution by calling their Senators and requesting they support the resolution. C19LAP and other advocacy groups also have organized phone banks and letter-writing campaigns calling for billions of dollars in research funding.
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