ho said ahs offers a series of resources for people with long covid. online resources are accessible at
myhealth.alberta.ca/healthtopics/after-covid
for those with more mild illness who can self-manage their symptoms.
as well, the health authority runs four “covid-19 recovery clinics,” with two locations in calgary and two in edmonton. these clinics treat patients with serious, sometimes debilitating complications from covid-19 and are accessible only via referral from a primary-care doctor. they have seen considerable uptake, ho said, with upwards of 500 referrals to the kaye edmonton clinic.
long-term complications of covid-19 affect a wide swath of people, including young people and those who did not have severe illness from the virus, ho explained.
“this is affecting everybody… it can affect people who were initially infected and were not that sick. they did not go to the hospital, and they still get these post-covid symptoms later on,” he said.
“it’s important for people to understand it’s affecting anyone who got covid.”
ho added vaccinations lower the risk of getting covid-19, and therefore lowers the risk of developing long-covid symptoms.
people with long-term covid symptoms need to be provided information about management of their illness and what they should and should not do, demars said.