Volunteers are needed right now for a multi-year study called RECOVER, which is sponsored by The National Institutes of Health (NIH). This study is open to anyone in the Bay Area who is at least 18 years old and has been diagnosed with COVID (by a lab or home test) within the past 30 days. Adults who can participate are encouraged to call 415-353-9306, send email to FiguringOutLongCOVID@ucsf.edu, or fill out a form on the RECOVER website.
It’s especially important for Blacks/African Americans, Latinos, Pacific Islanders or Native Americans to contact researchers and participate in RECOVER. All have experienced higher-than-average rates of COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths. Researchers want to ensure that study results accurately reflect the experiences of everyone in the Bay Area.
People with and without COVID symptoms are invited to apply. The team needs to research all types of COVID responses. Some who apply may not be eligible to participate. Those who are selected for the study will receive a modest stipend for their time — approximately $75.00 per office visit. Participants in the RECOVER study will be required to attend several office visits per year for up to three years. Those locations are in Daly City, at San Francisco General Hospital and at UCSF Parnassus.
In addition to the RECOVER study, UCSF researchers are conducting a pilot study in partnership with San Mateo County Health (SMC Health). This study aims to determine the prevalence (epidemiology) of Long COVID in San Mateo County. Researchers will begin calling county residents (ages 18 and over) in October to inquire about their Long COVID experiences.
San Mateo residents are urged to check their phones to see if they’ve been contacted. Since this study is limited to a smaller geographic area, potential participants must wait until they are first contacted by researchers before they can volunteer.
As with the RECOVER study, researchers plan to connect with local residents of all ethnicities and backgrounds who previously had COVID to hear their stories. Researchers hope to expand this pilot to other local counties in the future. Finding out how common long COVID is in local communities could impact future funding for health departments and services for those debilitated by the condition.
Long COVID, also known as post-acute sequelae of SARS-COv-2 (PASC), refers to both physical and mental health symptoms that last long after an initial infection. Those symptoms may start during infection and never go away or may appear weeks or months afterwards. Common complaints include fatigue, shortness of breath, pain, problems with concentration, depression and anxiety.
The NIH describes Long COVID as an “unseen public health crisis” and has invested $1.21B to help determine how common Long COVID is and what causes it. The goal is to develop ways to prevent and treat Long COVID. UCSF is one of 15 RECOVER research sites in the country. Different RECOVER locations may focus on different aspects of Long COVID research for the NIH. Read more about the nationwide RECOVER effort at RecoverCovid.org
COVID Has Had ‘Devastating Impact’ on Underserved Communities
“Aside from the devastating impact COVID has had on societally marginalized communities, we have no idea what the long-term consequences will be,” said Kim Rhoads, MD, MPH, from the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and the community engagement co-lead for the studies.“The project will help us get a better handle on how many people are affected by long COVID, and how we might intervene to reduce the additional burden the disease will likely place on communities of color,” Rhoads noted. She is also the founder of Umoja Health Partners, which unites local organizations combatting COVID-19 in Black communities and serves as the director of the Office of Community Engagement at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“By partnering with UCSF, we’re enhancing our epidemiology capacity to understand the long-term health effects of COVID affecting residents of San Mateo County,” said Curtis Chan, MD, San Mateo County’s deputy health officer. “This will help us prevent and treat long COVID, and strengthen our county’s analysis of other health inequities in the future.”
“Through our patient care and work in the community, we have seen firsthand the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on Latino and Black communities in the Bay Area,” said Carina Marquez, MD, of the UCSF Department of Medicine and community engagement co-lead for the studies. “Ensuring representation and equity in the community is fundamental to these studies. If you have had COVID we want to hear from you!”
“We know that communities have concerns about the effects of long COVID, and we still have a lot to learn about this condition,” said Susan Philip, MD, San Francisco’s Health Officer. “This is why it is vital that we make progress in studying long COVID in communities of color that have been most impacted by COVID-19. We need to know how we can best treat it, to inform how we can provide a targeted public health approach toward supporting communities where it is needed most,” she said.
For additional information and/or to become a part of the RECOVER study, call 415-353-9306, send email to FiguringOutLongCOVID@ucsf.edu, or fill out a form at: Studies.RecoverCovid.org.
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