Avera Medical Minute: Researching Long COVID For Better Understanding

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - It’s now been over three years since our lives were upended by COVID-19, and across the country, researchers continue to look for better ways to understand and treat the virus. Some of that work is being done in our own backyard.

At the Avera Research Institute in Sioux Falls, a team of researchers has joined a national COVID study called RECOVER.

This branch is specifically enlisting pediatric patients who currently have or were diagnosed with long COVID.

“COVID is so new and Long COVID is so new so really that the hope of the study is to have data to provide a good definition of what Long COVID is, and then ultimately with that definition leading into potential treatment,” said Meggie McCoy, an Avera Clinic Research Supervisor.

A local teen is looking to use her COVID experience to help find answers to the debilitating virus.

Anna Burt is 13-years-old and is doing her part to give scientists all the information they need to learn more about COVID-19 and possibly develop better treatments for patients in the future.

“I’m grateful for the team that we have and the team and the people that we’ve come in contact that do believe in the research and working together to try to find answers for things,” said Jody Burt, Anna’s mother.

The RECOVER Study is National Institutes of Health initiative with health systems participating across the country. Currently, the Avera Research Institute is not taking any new participants, but as the study grows it could be reopened in the future. For more information on this story, go to Avera.org/MedicalMinute

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