As researchers continue to study long COVID to better understand risk factors and symptoms, localized efforts across the country aim to gather more data to improve care for Latine communities and those hardest hit by infections.
Anyone who contracts COVID-19 is at risk of developing long COVID, but according to the CDC, Latine adults have the highest rates of long COVID in the U.S. Nine percent of U.S. Latine adults currently have long COVID symptoms compared to 7.5 percent of non-Hispanic white adults.
Public Good News spoke to Dr. Leo Morales, professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and co-director of the Latino Center for Health, to learn more about a recent survey he led to address the lack of data on long COVID among Latine people in his state.
Here’s what he said.
[Editor’s note: The contents of this interview have been edited for length and clarity.]
PGN: What is the mission of the Latino Center for Health?
Dr. Leo Morales: Our center is focused on improving the health and well-being of Latinos in the state of Washington. Broadly speaking, we address many different aspects of health and health policy. We’re funded by the state legislature, and I think that’s important to mention, because unlike other research centers, which may be more responsive to doing work that’s of national importance, we’re really focused on what’s important in this state.
PGN: Can you share more about the Latine communities who participated in the survey?
L.M.: The Latino population in our state is about 80-plus percent of Mexican origin.
We worked on this study with the Allen Institute for Immunology as well as with two federally qualified health centers: Sea Mar Community Health Centers and the Yakima [Valley] Farm Workers Clinic.
Each FQHC serves opposite sides of the mountains, generally speaking. So we got a pretty good representation of Latinos in our state.
Washington state can be thought of as two sides of the mountains. We have the Cascade Mountain Range that runs through the middle, and on the east side of the mountains, it’s a more rural and agricultural and even industrial area. So there’s lots of farming, lots of viticulture, so wine and also livestock types of industries. And a lot of Latinos work in those fields.
On the west side of the mountains, where I’m located, in Seattle, and along the I-5 corridor, it’s more urbanized, particularly between Everett and Olympia. It’s this more urban core. And so Latinos work in more service industries and construction.
PGN: How did you carry out your survey, and what were the key takeaways?
L.M.: We fielded the survey in the summer of 2023 and wrapped up in September, and we’ve been analyzing data since then.
But basically, we surveyed adults 18 years of age and older who identified as Latino, had a preferred language of English or Spanish, and had a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 with a provider.
Of the 8,000 people surveyed, we had about 1,500 respondents. So, about a 20 percent response rate. And about 60 percent of our respondents chose Spanish for the survey.
Forty-one percent of survey respondents reported symptoms for at least three months, so consistent with long COVID. Thirty-eight percent reported having symptoms at the time of the survey.
Our survey also asked about the impact on quality of life. We asked about pain, mental health, sleep, cognitive functioning and physical functioning, fatigue, and anxiety. [We also asked about] being able to fulfill social roles.
We found a disproportionate impact among those who had long COVID in all of these domains, relative to those who had recovered.
Some of the things that we’ve learned are that women are more impacted than men; that middle-aged adults are disproportionately impacted relative to younger individuals; and also that there were higher rates of long COVID among economically vulnerable individuals.
PGN: How could community health workers who serve Latine communities leverage your findings in their outreach?
L.M.: My biggest concern is that there are people who are struggling with long COVID, but don’t know that it’s long COVID.
Middle-aged Latinas are people who have many responsibilities. They may have a family. They may be involved with caregiving of older folks. They may be employed. And if they’re being impacted by long COVID, and are finding it difficult to fulfill all of those obligations, you can begin to understand that there may be dynamics in the family, and the person feeling unclear [about] why they’re not feeling well.
Unfortunately, there’s no one test for this condition. There’s not a blood test. And it’s not infrequent that patients will go to the doctor and say, ‘Hey, I’m just not feeling well,’ or ‘I just don’t have my energy,’ or ‘I’m having trouble concentrating.’
And their doctor will do some tests. And they’ll say, ‘Well, we don’t see anything wrong.’ And that’s what they’re left with.
So, I think there’s probably a lot of this problem that’s not being recognized.
PGN: What else would you like community health workers to know about long COVID?
L.M.: As people are working in the community, if they’re running into community members who are having these kinds of struggles, the first thing to ask them is how’s your energy? How’s your sleep? How’s your mental health?
If they’re finding folks that are having struggles, it becomes a question of trying to learn more and understand, ‘Did you have COVID-19? Well, have you had these symptoms before [getting] COVID-19?’
We know that multiple infections put you at higher risk for developing long COVID.
And also [that] unvaccinated people are more likely to have long COVID. And this is also true in our data.
So this is what you want to learn when you talk to somebody having these kinds of symptoms: what kinds of risks they have going into the COVID infection.
Creating greater awareness about this problem is super important because it can help people understand what’s happening. Even if you don’t have an immediate solution, it helps to understand what’s going on and explain what’s going on to other people. Because other people may blame you in some way, like, ‘Oh, it’s just a lack of character, you’re lazy,’ or whatever, right?
All of this suggests why it’s so important to get vaccinated. You do not want to have this illness any more frequently than you absolutely have the misfortune of getting it.
This article is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award to the CDC Foundation totaling $69,392,486 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government. In addition, the CDC Foundation does not guarantee and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of information or content contained in this article. Moreover, the CDC Foundation expressly disclaims all liability for damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to, or reliance on any information contained within this article. This article are not intended as, and should not be interpreted by you as, constituting or implying the CDC Foundation’s endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation of the information, products, or services found therein.