{"id":9050,"date":"2026-06-08T13:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T17:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=9050"},"modified":"2026-06-08T14:26:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T18:26:02","slug":"members-interview-with-doh-doctor-educates-the-public-about-long-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-5\/members-interview-with-doh-doctor-educates-the-public-about-long-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Member\u2019s interview with DOH doctor educates the public about Long COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Feature<\/a>
PEF member Jacklynn Blanchard interviewed the Department of Health\u2019s Dr. Geeta Sood about Long COVID and its symptoms, statistics, and repercussions for public health.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 12, 2026 —<\/em> The dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic may have receded, but for some the health effects linger long past the active infection.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For PEF member Jacklynn Blanchard, educating the public about Long COVID has become an ongoing mission. Blanchard works as a Criminal Justice Policy Analyst at the Office of Data Analytics and Program Support (ODAPS) in the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). She is a member of the Cultural Inclusion Alliance (CIA) which is headed by DCJS\u2019s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility (DEIA) team. As part of that work, earlier this year she interviewed Dr. Geeta Sood, a Medical Director in the NYS Department of Health\u2019s Division of Epidemiology. The interview with Dr. Sood is part of a series that includes topics like living with a disability and neurodiversity.\u202f\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that a lot of people don\u2019t know that getting COVID can still cause serious harm to their bodies or that Long COVID even exists,\u201d Blanchard said. \u201cEach time you get COVID, you increase your likelihood ofdeveloping Long COVID regardless of if you had symptoms or if you\u2019re an otherwise healthy person. People should know it\u2019s not just affecting immuno-compromised adults or elderly people — it\u2019s actually now the number one chronic illness being diagnosed in kids.\u201d\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Long COVID is a chronic condition that can develop after a COVID infection. It can impact multiple body systems and seriously disrupt a person\u2019s life. There are more than 200 symptoms associated with it, but common symptoms include extreme fatigue and brain fog. It is estimated to cost the U.S. billions of dollars annually due to a combination of increased healthcare costs, absenteeism, and reduced productivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID never went away,\u201d Blanchard said. \u201cIn addition to the risk of Long COVID, COVID can damage our immune systems. People are more likely to develop conditions like<\/span> Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) or to suffer from other serious health conditions.\u201d\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs we continue to navigate this, I think it\u2019s important that people have enough information to make informed decisions about their health, and I don\u2019t think that that\u2019s really happening right now,\u201d Blanchard said. \u201cIt\u2019s clear that the lockdown period was traumatic for a lot of people and I get that many would prefer not to think about COVID anymore, but I also think that they would probably prefer not to be getting sick all the time,too. Unfortunately, we can\u2019t have both. I think we need to take this more seriously before it gets worse.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can view Blanchard\u2019s <\/span>full interview with Dr. Sood on YouTube<\/span><\/a>. And you can learn more about Long COVID on the <\/span>DOH website<\/span><\/a>. Other resources are available via the <\/span>U.S. Department of Health and Human Services<\/span><\/a> and the <\/span>Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 12, 2026 — The dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic may have receded, but for some the health effects linger long past the active infection.\u00a0 For PEF member Jacklynn…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-9050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-44-no-5"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMember\u2019s interview with DOH doctor educates the public about Long COVID - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-5\/members-interview-with-doh-doctor-educates-the-public-about-long-covid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Member\u2019s interview with DOH doctor educates the public about Long COVID\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 12, 2026 — The dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic may have receded, but for some the health effects linger long past the active infection.\u00a0 For PEF member Jacklynn...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-5\/members-interview-with-doh-doctor-educates-the-public-about-long-covid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PEF Communicator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-08T17:51:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-08T18:26:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/LongCovid-Feature.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"435\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ccanham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ccanham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-5\\\/members-interview-with-doh-doctor-educates-the-public-about-long-covid\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-5\\\/members-interview-with-doh-doctor-educates-the-public-about-long-covid\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ccanham\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0677b03b1fcdadfe00f4e905b97b90e4\"},\"headline\":\"Member\u2019s interview with DOH doctor educates the public about Long COVID\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-08T17:51:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-08T18:26:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-5\\\/members-interview-with-doh-doctor-educates-the-public-about-long-covid\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":522,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-5\\\/members-interview-with-doh-doctor-educates-the-public-about-long-covid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/LongCovid-Feature.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-5\\\/members-interview-with-doh-doctor-educates-the-public-about-long-covid\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-5\\\/members-interview-with-doh-doctor-educates-the-public-about-long-covid\\\/\",\"name\":\"Member\u2019s interview with DOH doctor educates the public about Long COVID - 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