‘How do I know I’m over it?’ Months of lingering COVID-19 symptoms has UW researchers seeking answers, treatments

SEATTLE — Until Jennifer Minhas started showing symptoms of COVID-19 more than 12 weeks ago in March, she led an active, athletic lifestyle combined with a full-time career.

“I was always a healthy person, and I thought I would get over this,” she said.

She said her recovery was slow, but even after recently testing negative, her respiratory symptoms and chest pain have lingered for weeks beyond the timeframe doctors predict for the majority of patients.

“For some reason this chest inflammation or whatever this is, continues,” she said. “This illness keeps lingering and lingering, and we don’t really know why it’s doing that."

On social media COVID-19 recovery support groups, thousands of survivors tell similar stories of unexplained issues like chest pain and inflammation months after they have supposedly beaten the virus.

“How do I know I’m over it?” Minhas asked, noting stories she saw online where patients reported remarkably similar nagging issues with inflammation, pain and trouble breathing.

A patient shared on Twitter: “Six full weeks into COVID symptoms and this damn thing will just not go away.”

“There is a network of people who are starting to talk about it and immediately say ‘Oh, that’s exactly what I went through, or am going through now,’” Minhas said.

Now, she is among the first patients enrolled in a global study involving University of Washington Medicine research, where doctors are trying to understand the recovery process potentially affecting millions of COVID-19 survivors.

Minhas is still in treatment today, hoping data and case studies from an unknown number of patients with lingering symptoms will bring answers, treatments, and relief.

“It’s just going to take time,” she said. “We are still at the very beginning of this.”

© 2020 Cox Media Group