Health, Science and Technology

SLO County Public Health is collecting local data on post-COVID symptoms

KCBX | By Gabriela Fernandez

Published July 25, 2022 at 12:14 PM PDT

SLO County Public Health sends out texts to people who test positive for COVID-19 with isolation instructions. Now, they're texting some of those people again with questions on their post-COVID experience.

San Luis Obispo County’s Public Health Department is looking to better understand the long-term health effects of COVID-19, which are commonly referred to now as long COVID or post-COVID conditions.

The county is trying to do this by sending out a survey to county residents who have previously tested positive. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, SLO County has had over 65,000 confirmed cases, and nearly 500 reported deaths.

The public health department has sent text messages to over 50,000 residents who have contracted the disease to better understand long COVID locally. “We're right now in a really unstable period of COVID,” said Tom Cuddy, SLO County’s Public Information Officer for Public Health.

A graph provided by the Public Health Department of SLO County explaining the long-term side effects of COVID-19.

Cuddy said thousands of people in SLO County have already completed the survey. “The feedback we received will help us understand any emerging problems and most importantly identify what resources we need as a community and as a public health department to address them,” he said.

Long COVID-19 symptoms can occur weeks or months after infection. The symptoms can be new, returning or lingering and can consist of fatigue, headaches, hair loss, loss of taste and smell, hearing loss, and many other symptoms. It can even happen to people who never knew they contracted the disease.

“There are people that may have no symptoms. They're asymptomatic. But for the vast majority of people, this is a very serious illness and that's what we need to keep in mind,” Cuddy said.

Public health officials say it is important to respond to the survey, as its purpose is to identify any emerging issues so that they can identify the resources they may need to address them, on top of the usual COVID precautions.

“We strongly recommend that community members mask up in indoor public spaces, regularly wash your hands, stay home if you're not feeling well, and get tested if you suspect you have COVID,” Cuddy said.

If you want to contribute to the survey and never got a text message, you can answer questions here. The county updates their COVID-19 statistics every Wednesday.