Long COVID , defined as symptoms persisting ninety days or more after SARS-CoV-2 infection, has been documented globally, but the experience of Long COVID in urban Black and Hispanic communities has been substantially less studied than its course in better-resourced populations. Our work addresses that gap.

Beyond COVID specifically, the program studies post-acute infection syndromes more broadly. The recognition that infections produce long-tail consequences for some patients didn't begin with COVID, and will not end with it. The infrastructure CTH has built to study Long COVID extends to other post-acute syndromes that have been similarly underrecognized.

The program's current central research effort is a citywide assessment of Long COVID in Houston. Findings from the survey are being disseminated through a planned seven-paper series in the peer-reviewed literature. The first paper, on prevalence and symptom profiles, is in pre-submission review. Subsequent papers in the series examine symptom clustering, demographic disparities in Long COVID burden, healthcare access among affected adults, and other dimensions of the post-acute experience that have been underrepresented in the existing evidence base.

The program also aligns with national post-acute infection initiatives, including the NIH RECOVER-TLC effort, and positions CTH to contribute Houston-specific evidence to federal and multi-site research conversations.

Public health systems were slow to recognize Long COVID, and slower still to recognize its uneven burden across populations. The communities CTH partners with experienced acute COVID disproportionately, and they continue to live with its consequences in ways that have not been adequately documented or addressed. This program builds the evidence those communities need and the evidence the broader scientific and clinical community has been missing.