Long COVID Researcher Shares Her Daily Struggles

A leading long COVID researcher has opened up about living with the same condition she studies.

Alison Cohen, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, developed long COVID after catching the virus in January 2022. Since then, she has faced ongoing fatigue and other symptoms that have changed her daily routine.

Cohen says long COVID can affect people in many different ways. Some patients deal with extreme tiredness, brain fog, breathing problems, and trouble standing or sitting for long periods.

For Cohen, the illness has limited activities she once enjoyed, including long runs and long car rides. She now has to carefully manage her energy and plan her day around her symptoms.

Her experience has also shaped her research. As both a scientist and a patient, Cohen says more work is needed to understand long COVID and find treatments that can help millions of people still living with its effects.