Nearly six years after the coronavirus first reached Vermont, many residents continue to live with long Covid — a collection of persistent, often disabling symptoms that patients say the health and social systems still fail to meet. In interviews across the state in 2024–2026, patients described severe fatigue, shortness of breath and brain fog that cost them jobs, income and daily independence. Advocates and clinicians say there are gaps in diagnosis, coordinated care and insurance coverage, and federal policy shifts have deepened financial uncertainty for some. As patients press for research, coordinated services and benefits, many report long delays or denials when seeking help.
Key takeaways
- About 11% of adult Vermonters who ever tested positive for Covid reported symptoms lasting three months or more in a 2023 Vermont Department of Health analysis.
- A 2025 patient survey linked long Covid to more than 40 distinct symptoms; another study classified the illness into eight different clinical trajectories.
- Vermont patients report long waits for specialized care: some called statewide clinics repeatedly and were told to expect six-month waits.
- Federal research momentum has wavered: a 2024 proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders for $1 billion in NIH funding has not advanced and a 2025 HHS reorganization eliminated a dedicated long Covid office.
- Patients face acute financial risk: one clinician-reported patient said loss of coverage for a medication would cost an estimated $80,000 annually out of pocket.
- Local programs such as the University of Vermont COVID Recovery Program aim to connect specialists, but staffing and siloed specialties limit timely, integrated care.
- Community support groups provide practical coping strategies like pacing and paperwork navigation, but members say public awareness and official recognition remain uneven.
Background
Long Covid is recognized by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization as a post-viral condition that can affect multiple organ systems. Since SARS-CoV-2 arrived in Vermont in early 2020, clinicians and patients have reported a wide range of ongoing problems — from persistent fatigue and respiratory complaints to severe cognitive impairment and autonomic dysfunction. Research remains active but incomplete: investigators are exploring immune dysregulation, organ injury and other mechanisms, and no single diagnostic test or universally effective treatment exists.
Those scientific uncertainties interact with structural barriers in health care and social supports. Vermont, like many states, faces health workforce shortages and rising marketplace premiums that have more than doubled in recent years, creating additional obstacles for people who need repeated evaluations and multidisciplinary care. Advocacy groups, disability organizations and clinicians have urged more coordinated state and federal responses; patients and support organizations say the pace of policy and funding changes has been slow relative to needs.
Main event
Across interviews conducted in 2024–2026, Vermonters described similar patterns: a period of initial Covid infection followed by months of new or worsening symptoms that eluded standard testing. One nurse, identified only as Ali, sought emergency care twice for severe breathlessness and chest pain; routine imaging and blood work returned normal, and a neurologist later diagnosed long Covid after months of decline. She described difficulty maintaining full-time work while facing repeated paperwork burdens to secure leave and benefits.
Others recounted obstacles getting into specialized clinics. A patient who had multiple Covid infections and chronic migraines said they called the Dartmouth-Hitchcock long Covid clinic repeatedly but did not get timely appointments, and eventually relocated out of state to access care. Support-group leaders described frequent calls from Vermonters on waiting lists or with no primary care access willing to treat complex post-Covid problems.
Local clinical efforts have attempted to fill the gap. The University of Vermont COVID Recovery Program, led by pulmonary physicians Drs. David Kaminsky and Katherine Menson, aims to create referral pathways linking patients to multiple specialists. Clinicians involved emphasize that integrated approaches and ongoing research are crucial to identify effective treatments and improve outcomes. Still, patients and social-service advocates say insurance denials, geographic limits on services and the fragmentation of specialties often leave people navigating care on their own.
At the policy level, patient advocates celebrated a proposed 2024 Senate “moonshot” to fund long Covid research — a $1 billion NIH commitment put forward by Sen. Bernie Sanders — but the proposal stalled in Congress. Meanwhile, in 2025 the Department of Health and Human Services eliminated a dedicated Office of Long Covid Research and Practice and ended an advisory committee on the condition, moves that patients and advocates described as a retreat from previously pledged support.
Analysis & implications
Clinically, long Covid’s heterogeneity complicates both diagnosis and service design. With more than 40 reported symptoms and at least eight recognized illness trajectories, a single-specialty model is often inadequate. That fragmentation means patients may receive excellent care for a single organ system but still lack a coordinated plan addressing fatigue, cognition and functional capacity — the issues most likely to determine whether someone can remain employed.
Economically, the condition intersects with rising insurance costs and uncertain subsidy policy. When marketplace premiums climb and subsidies are unsettled, people who require ongoing testing, specialist visits or costly medications are exposed to substantial financial risk. As in Ali’s case, loss of coverage for a single therapy can transform manageable care into an untenable out-of-pocket burden and reduce patients’ ability to work — a feedback loop that can push people toward disability or financial precarity.
Politically, the ebb and flow of federal attention matters because sustained research funding drives clinical trials, treatment guidelines and best-practice networks. The discontinuation of a federal office and advisory committee reduces centralized coordination and may slow translation of research into practice. State and local health systems can mitigate some impacts, but only if funding, workforce and referral networks are supported.
Socially, stigma and disbelief compound the problem. Patients commonly report skepticism from family, employers and even clinicians when tests are normal. That disbelief can delay accommodations, worsen mental health and increase administrative burdens as patients repeatedly document disability for employers, insurers and benefit programs.
Comparison & data
| Measure | Vermont / Study |
|---|---|
| Adults with symptoms ≥3 months | 11% (Vermont Dept. of Health, 2023) |
| Reported symptom types | >40 (2025 patient survey) |
| Clinical trajectories identified | 8 (recent trajectory study) |
These figures illustrate why single-quality metrics are insufficient: prevalence estimates, symptom burden and illness courses are heterogeneous. The Vermont Department of Health percentage is based on self-reported lingering symptoms among those who ever tested positive; it is not a clinical prevalence confirmed by standardized testing. Nationally, estimates vary with methodology, so Vermont’s numbers should be interpreted as one indicator among many.
Reactions & quotes
Advocates, clinicians and patients offered consistent themes: need for research, need for pathways to coordinated care, and the strain of insurance and employment instability.
If we lose research, then we lose the opportunity to learn about new things and what works, and what doesn’t.
David Kaminsky, University of Vermont (pulmonologist)
Kaminsky’s comments came as clinical teams described efforts to build multi-specialty referral paths; he warned that research funding cuts would slow progress toward validated treatments and care models.
We are still not there yet.
Chawna Cota, Vermont Democratic Disability Caucus (advocate)
Cota emphasized that patients need informed providers, more resources and therapies grounded in evidence; she also described self-education and advocacy as necessary but insufficient responses to systemic barriers.
I can’t work full time because I can’t get this med…because I can’t work full time it makes my insurance cost even more.
Ali (Vermont nurse, patient)
Ali’s experience highlights a recurring policy problem: when treatment access is uncertain, work capacity and insurance affordability can decline simultaneously, worsening financial vulnerability.
Unconfirmed
- Claims that COVID vaccines are a primary cause of long Covid remain unsupported; major public-health bodies continue to find no causal link between authorized vaccines and long Covid onset.
- Precise prevalence in Vermont is uncertain because surveys rely on self-report and testing history; comprehensive clinical prevalence studies are still limited.
- Effectiveness of many experimental or off-label treatments remains under investigation; individual reports of benefit are not yet conclusive.
Bottom line
Long Covid remains a persistent public-health and social challenge in Vermont six years after the virus arrived. Patients face a mix of medical uncertainty, fragmented care pathways and growing financial pressure from rising premiums and shifting federal support. Local clinics and community groups are filling gaps, but clinicians and advocates say sustained research funding, clearer referral networks and insurance protections are needed to reduce delays and denials that undermine people’s health and livelihoods.
For policymakers, the priority choices are clear: invest in coordinated specialty networks and research to identify effective interventions, protect access to affordable insurance for people with chronic needs, and strengthen workplace and disability supports so patients can manage both health and economic risks. For patients and families, community support groups and pacing strategies provide practical help while the systems that should support them are improved.