E-Mail
BOSTON By mid-November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported that 218,439 health care workers in the U.S. had been infected with COVID-19 a likely underestimate due to incomplete data from states. About 3% to 4% of health care personnel who recover from coronavirus infection are expected to become COVID long-haulers as they cope with debilitating symptoms 12 to 18 months after the acute stage of the infection clears. As COVID-19 surges again, hospitals are facing a shortage of skilled frontline providers who can meet the relentless demands of caring for these patients, says Zeina N. Chemali, MD, MPH, a psychiatrist and neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and senior author of an article in