Survivors struggle as scientists race to solve COVID mystery

There was no reason to celebrate on Rachel Van Lear’s anniversary. The same day a global pandemic was declared, she developed symptoms of COVID-19. A year later, she’s still waiting for them to disappear. And for experts to come up with some answers.

The Texas woman is one of thousands of self-described long-haulers, patients with symptoms that linger or develop out of the blue months after they first became infected with coronavirus. Hers first arrived March 11, 2020.

The condition affects an uncertain number of survivors in a baffling variety of ways.

"We’re faced with a mystery," said Dr. Francis Collins, chief of the National Institutes of Health.

Is it a condition unique to COVID-19, or just a variation of the syndrome that can occur after other infections? How many people are affected, and how long does it last? Is it a new form of chronic fatigue syndrome — a condition with similar symptoms?

Or could some symptoms be unrelated to their COVID-19 but a physical reaction to the upheaval of this past pandemic year — the lockdowns, quarantines, isolation, job losses, racial unrest, political turmoil, not to mention overwhelming illness and deaths?

These are the questions facing scientists as they search for disease markers, treatments and cures. With $1 billion from Congress, Collins' agency is designing and soliciting studies that aim to follow at least 20,000 people who’ve had COVID-19.

‘’We’ve never really been faced with a post-infectious condition of this magnitude so this is unprecedented,’’ Collins said Monday. "We don't have time to waste.’’

With nearly 30 million U.S. cases of COVID-19 and 119 million worldwide, the impact could be staggering, even if only a small fraction of patients develop long-term problems.

Fatigue, shortness...