TRINITY, Fla. — As of this summer, federal protections were extended to the potentially millions of Americans with long COVID. According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, long COVID can be classified as a disability under Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"Not everyone with long COVID will have protections under the ADA. It will be very individualized. That is something that the ADA and other disability rights laws have emphasized," said Robyn Powell, an attorney who specializes in health and disability law and a visiting assistant professor at Stetson University College of Law.

According to HHS, individual assessments will be needed to determine if a person's long COVID "substantially limits a major life activity." Reasonable accommodations can then be made, which Powell said can include modified work schedules or making the workplace more accessible.

Jolyn Vanek, 44, knows all too well the disruption long COVID can cause. She became sick with COVID in September 2020 and has suffered with long haul symptoms ever since. There's physical exhaustion, widespread pain and trouble balancing. Vanek said most frustrating are the cognitive issues, or "brain fog," that make it hard to concentrate on more than one subject at a time, cause her to lose her train of thought and lead to constantly misplace items.

"Word finding, that's a big one," Vanek said. "I will miss a word or I'll want to call the lotion a ball, and that's all I can think of, even though I know it's wrong in my head. I continue to say the wrong word, even though I know the right one. I forget a lot of things. I spend a good amount of time looking for things."

Vanek has been on leave from her job as a physical therapist's assistant since April. She plans to return next month not because she feels ready, but because her leave is up. 

"I think that my job will make accommodations for me when I go back so that it won't be too overwhelming. I think the biggest thing that I'll have to work through is multitasking," she said. "My job is very busy, and I'm doing lots of things at one time. I struggle with that a lot now."

Vanek is not alone. Researchers from Penn State University analyzed studies from a number of databases. According to their systemic review published on JAMA Network earlier this month, 54 percent of 250,000 COVID survivors were still experiencing long haul symptoms six months or more after infection. The most common were functional mobility impairments, pulmonary abnormalities, and mental health disorders.

While Vanek said she applied for disability, she has yet to hear back about her claim. Since she's heading back to work in part to avoid a gap in benefits, she said that will likely be void. 

"More protections are needed for people when it comes to their employment. I think it would be helpful. I can also sympathize with the companies because they're missing their workers. However, it's difficult to recover from all the neurological impacts of COVID. So I think we need a little more time than maybe the average person, but, you know, we work the best we can within the system we've got and that's it," Vanek said.

Powell noted long COVID is new and still being studied.

"I don't know that we know that necessarily other protections are needed," she said. "I would say that even despite the Americans with Disabilities Act being the law for over 31 years, we see increased rates of unemployment amongst people with disabilities and denials of reasonable accommodation. So, it won't surprise me if these protections do not get fully afforded to people with long COVID because they're not afforded to people with disabilities in general."

For more information on the Americans with Disabilities Act, click here.