Lesson Overview

Featured Article: “How long does Covid exhaust the bodyby Josh Keller

Long Covid is a chronic disease that affects millions of people infected with the coronavirus. These people struggle with exhaustion, cognitive problems and other symptoms that persist for months and years after the initial infection.

In this article, you’ll learn about the long toll Covid takes on the body, as well as new research that offers clues to what causes the disease. Then you’ll learn more about the long Covid by exploring resources for people with the disease and reading an additional New York Times article.

Warm up

In your journal or during a class discussion, consider these questions: Have you ever heard of the long Covid? What are some of the symptoms of the disease? Do you know anyone who has been living with Covid for a long time?

Then, learn about one young person’s experience with the long Covid by reading this excerpt from a New York Times article:

Will, an Eagle Scout, talented tennis player and highly motivated student who loves studying languages ​​so much he’s learning both French and Arabic, said he used to think that “doing naps is a loss of sunshine”.

But Covid made him so tired he could barely get out of bed for 35 days, and he was so dizzy he had to sit up to keep from passing out in the shower. When he returned to his high school classes in Dallas, a brain fog caused him to see “numbers floating on the page” in math, forget to turn in a Japanese samurai history paper he had written a few days earlier and to insert fragments of French into an English homework.

“I handed it to my teacher, and she was like, ‘Will, is this your scratch notes?'” Will said, adding that he was worried: “Is this that I can be a good student again? Because it’s really scary.

After reading the excerpt, consider these questions in writing or discussion:

• What is your reaction to what you have just read? Are you surprised? Concerning? To explain.

• What questions do you have about Will’s experience? What else do you want to know about the long Covid?

Writing and Discussion Questions

Read the article then answer the following questions:

1. What are the four factors that seem to increase the risk of developing long Covid?

2. What is one reason why viral genetic material from the coronavirus might remain in some people’s immune systems? How could this contribute to other symptoms?

3. What connection could the Epstein-Barr virus have with how a person’s body reacts to a first Covid infection?

4. How can understanding the different immune system responses to Covid and a patient’s unique issues help determine treatment for long Covid?

5. Why might long-time Covid patients struggle to cycle, even though they appear to have normal hearts and lungs?

6. How do doctors like exercise physiologist Dr. David M. Systrom use research to fend off doctors who reject patients with long Covid symptoms or “misdiagnose their symptoms as psychosomatic”?

7. How can persisting microscopic blood clots and cytokines contribute to low oxygen levels leading to severe fatigue?

8. Dr Avindra Nath, clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said the long-term neurological problems of Covid are “a major public health crisis”. Why do you think she used that language? From what you read in the article, do you agree? Why or why not?

Go further

Part I. Reflect

In your journal, respond to what you have just read: What is your reaction to the article? What do you think are the three things that are important for people to know about the long Covid? What are the two questions you still ask yourself about the disease? What is a word or phrase that describes your emotional reaction to the article?

Part II. To learn

The featured article ends with a list of 13 resources for living with the long Covid and four New York Times articles, including the warm-up, that dig deeper into the topic.

Pick a resource from the first section and spend at least 10 minutes exploring it by browsing a website, watching a video, or reading an article. Then answer these questions:

• What is the purpose of the resource? What is the expected audience?

• What two things did you learn from this source?

• How could this benefit someone with a long history of Covid, that person’s family or friends, or a doctor trying to understand the disease?

• Summarize what you’ve learned in 140 characters or less, like these three top researchers — Dr. Amy Proal, Dr. David Putrino and Dr Akiko Iwasaki – did on Twitter.

If you want to go deeper, choose one of the four Times articles listed at the bottom of the article and read it in its entirety. As you read, jot down three quotes, facts, or figures that you think are important to understanding his main idea.

Part III. Educate

Create a one-page document using the information you learned in this lesson. Your one-pager must include:

• Three facts about the long Covid

• Two Quotes About Illness

• An image that shows how long Covid affects the body internally

• A symbol that represents how long Covid can affect people’s lives

• A border – using words or images – that represents the key themes of all the articles and resources you have explored

• A question you have, or a question you’d like your one-pager viewers to consider

You can share your final product with your classmates, friends and family members. When you look at the other single-page slips in your class, are there any themes that you notice in most of them? What images or quotes stand out in other pages?

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