Patients tell Senate Health & Welfare their long COVID struggles and ask for clinics, workplace protections and prevention

Two people with long COVID gave extended testimony to the Senate Health and Welfare committee, describing severe disability, difficulty obtaining timely specialty care, loss of employment and calls for policy changes to prevent further harm.

Aylin Roy, a Vermont educator who said she worked for Head Start and later became disabled with long COVID, described an illness course that left her at one point weighing 87 pounds, experiencing daily chest pain and cognitive impairment. She said primary clinicians initially dismissed her symptoms, that referral to the UVM long COVID clinic required physician support (no self-referrals), and that delays in care and difficulty obtaining workplace accommodations caused lasting damage. Roy praised the RETAIN program at the Department of Labor, saying it “definitely helped me through the accommodation process” and urging continued funding.

Christine, who said she became symptomatic in January 2020 and later developed severe, multi-system illness, described daily bedrest, cognitive symptoms, caregiver strain and expensive medical bills. She urged clean air in schools (including far-UVC or air purifiers), free COVID tests, stronger school and workplace supports that allow people to stay home when sick, and clinician education so patients are not told their condition is psychosomatic. Christine said some clinics that once served long COVID patients have closed and called for a legitimate long COVID clinic in Vermont.

Both witnesses urged the committee to recognize long COVID as an ongoing public-health and workplace hazard, to improve access to diagnosis and care, to strengthen workplace protections and to include patients in policy design. The committee thanked the witnesses and said it will follow up with the Department of Health, AHEC, the Department of Labor and Medicaid; no legislative votes occurred at the hearing.