Clinics designed to treat the after-effects of COVID-19 are specialized clinics with the expertise for treating long covid. But Kansas is one of the few states without a clinic for long-COVID patients. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in five American adults who had COVID-19 developed long COVID symptoms. That means about 200,000 Kansas residents are suffering from the syndrome. Kathryn Burke works with a support group for people with long COVID. She says the shortage of clinics in the state often leaves people in rural areas a very long drive away from a health care provider who might restore their lung capacity or clear their brain fog. She adds it’s hard for people in more rural locations, less wealthy locations to be able to access long COVID care simply because the medical clinics and medical centers around them simply may not have the funding or the staffing to dedicate time and money towards long COVID clinics.
