The long-lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic echo in many aspects of our social and professional lives. However, the lasting effects of the virus itself have been overlooked in many respects. 

Researchers at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization from the University of Saskatchewan have established an app for the people of the province to gather more information on the lingering effects of COVID-19.

The app was established by a diverse team of researchers and scientists, including Donna Goodridge, Dr. Gary Groot, Nathaniel Osgood and Alyson Kelvin. Kelvin, a virologist and vaccinologist leading the Sask Long COVID project at VIDO, who also holds an adjunct professorship at the U of S, spoke with the Sheaf about the processes of Long COVID and the damage it inflicts.

“We’re a multidisciplinary team of researchers who can then convert what [participants] are saying into either support services, researching Long COVID to help identify a treatment for this disease or ways of rehabilitation and recovery,” Kelvin said, describing how she and her team aim to further understand these unique cases.

Kelvin began her explanation of Long COVID by first describing the initial phases of the COVID-19 virus.  

“[When] your body is allowing the virus to infect you and replicate more virus, that’s called the acute phase of COVID-19,” Kelvin said. 

During the acute phase of COVID-19, an infected person will experience common COVID-19 symptoms which include coughing, shortness of breath, muscle aches and fever.

When the acute period ends, the person is no longer infectious, but can still experience lasting symptoms of COVID for several weeks, if not months, after the initial stages of infection. 

“It’s still important to recognize that some people are still suffering weeks after having COVID,” Kelvin said.

Also referred to as post-acute sequelae, Kelvin describes Long COVID as lingering signs and symptoms that can extend up to 12 weeks after the initial infection of COVID-19. 

In cases of Long COVID, Kelvin emphasizes that symptoms do not only impact the respiratory system — the initial site of the virus — but also many other body systems. 

“It is a multi-organ disease… that’s affecting many different organ systems, such as your neurological system, your renal system and your cardiovascular system,” Kelvin said. 

Information on the lasting effects of the virus is few and far between, which is why Dr. Kelvin and her team of researchers launched their survey in hopes of gathering more information from Saskatchewan residents. 

The survey can be found on the Ethica app in the Apple Store and Google Play or by going online to Ethicadata.com and using the study ID number 1913. From there, participants are asked a series of questions based on their history with COVID-19 and the symptoms they are currently having or have experienced in the past. 

“We want everybody to be able to access the app and go through the survey,” Kelvin said. In inviting all Saskatchewan residents to participate, Kelvin and her team aim to gather data from individuals formally diagnosed with COVID-19 and those who have not had the virus. 

With the resulting data gathered from the survey, participants will be able to take part in follow-up studies and focus groups to further understand the lasting effects of Long COVID.

Kelvin and her team hope to bring more attention to those suffering from Long COVID. With the uncertainty that the COVID-19 pandemic already brings, the nuances of different variants and severity of symptoms have overshadowed the attention given to those suffering from Long COVID.

“We can’t forget about the destruction that the virus [has caused] in everybody’s lives and [that] people are still suffering,” Kelvin said. “That really breaks my heart.”

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Rayyann Haque | Staff Writer

Graphic: Jaycen Jakubowski