SALT LAKE CITY — For Utahns whose lives have been turned upside down, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services announced new discoveries it's made regarding Long COVID.
“I'm never gonna get better, and I don't hope to get better, but I do know that life can still be beautiful," said Blake Bockholt, who suffers from Long COVID years after the pandemic.
Bockholt doesn't recognize himself in pictures from just several years ago, adding that he's a completely different person than the one who used to trail run and canyoneer, even running half-marathons every weekend.
He was diagnosed with COVID-19 in January 2022 and suffered only mild symptoms until a few weeks later when his health took a turn for the worse.
“I wasn't doing anything, but I kept losing my breath at night," he explained. "I couldn't fall asleep because ... I couldn't breathe, and that's when we started getting worried.”
Bockholt isn’t the only Utahn struggling with Long COVID, with new research showing that one in 12 state residents suffer from the same diagnosis. The majority of those are middle-aged women and people of color.
“That might just be because we know that they experienced a higher burden of COVID-9 infections throughout the pandemic, and now we're seeing the sequel of that,” said long-term COVID epidemiologist Rachel Kubiak with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.
The new data will help health officials, medical professionals, and the public understand how to care for and prevent Long COVID.
“We know very little, sort of medically and scientifically speaking about this condition,” Kubiak admitted.
It took months for Bockholt to understand what he was dealing with, and hopes the conversation around the condition keeps growing so more Utahns can get help.
“The only thing I hope for is that I can still live a beautiful life despite everything,” he said.
From the University of Utah’s Long COVID Clinic to the Job Accommodation Network, there are resources for Utahns who are struggling, even those without health insurance.
Other resources include:
