1/25/25: Potential blood-based Long COVID biomarker; reflections from a Palestinian with Long COVID

A blood-based biomarker for Long COVID could be on the horizon. And living with Long COVID as a Palestinian in the United States.

In this episode of Still Here: Co-host Miles Griffis speaks with co-host Betsy Ladyzhets and producer James Salanga about their newest reporting on Long COVID biomarkers. Long COVID Justice’s BIPOC Communicators Fellow Jenna Laila Bitar reads a portion of their essay about seeing the U.S. funnel money toward genocide instead of supporting people with Long COVID. 

Also in this episode: funding for a preventative COVID-19 drug for immunocompromised people, a new preprint estimating the prevalence of Long COVID across continents, and the latest COVID-19 trends. 

The transcript for this episode ⁠is available on The Sick Times' website⁠. You can jump to specific sections of the episode and transcript below:

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:01:55) COVID-19 trends

(00:07:15) A potential blood-based Long COVID biomarker

(00:20:21) Being Palestinian with Long COVID in the U.S.

(00:24:32) Research: Funding for a new COVID-19 drug for immunocompromised people; MedrXiV preprint about Long COVID prevalence

(00:28:30) Outro

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Mentioned in this episode (in order of appearance):

• The Sick Times: National COVID-19 trends, January 21
• CDC wastewater dashboard
• Biobot wastewater risk reports
• WastewaterSCAN dashboard

• Science: Why the ‘Ferrari of viruses’ is surging through the Northern Hemisphere
• The Sick Times: Wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 keeps evolving. Here's what you need to know.
• The Sick Times: Finding an accepted Long COVID biomarker will be complicated. This blood test could give us answers. 
• NIH RECOVER: Routine lab tests are n