U.S. Black COVID-19 long-haulers feel invisible to health care system: NBC

NEW YORK, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- More and more Black people have reported prolonged COVID-19 symptoms in the United States, together with difficulty getting treatment, reported NBC News on Sunday.

"Like most of the pandemic's fallout, Black people are bearing the brunt of long Covid, with the group making up a majority of long Covid hospitalizations and researchers even projecting that Black people's life expectancy will drop significantly in the next five years as a result," it said.

One patient said she visited hospitals a dozen times seeking help, but was brushed off by physicians and sometimes labeled as "aggressive" when she insisted that severe headaches she experienced were due to COVID-19, according to the report.

Long Covid, or post-Covid, was first identified in the United States in the months after the pandemic began in March 2020. Two and a half years into the public health crisis, "a lot remains unknown about the prolonged illness that affects up to 23 million Americans," said the report.

Symptoms of long Covid vary from person to person, with people reporting experiencing everything from fatigue and cognitive impairment to tissue damage and organ injury, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.