Western Australians to participate in a long COVID research

The Department of Health is asking the people of Western Australia to participate in a survey that will explore the impacts of long COVID.

Participants, who had been diagnosed with COVID previously and agreed to participate in future research, will be contacted by the Department via SMS.

Senior Medical Adviser for Communicable Disease Control Dr Paul Effler said the study would help shape what resources and future healthcare needs WA would require for long COVID.

“WA’s high vaccination rate when we were hit by the Omicron variant means information about long COVID from other countries with lower vaccination rates, and which experienced different variant waves, is not likely to be applicable to us,” Dr Effler said.

“We’re encouraging anyone who receives the survey request to respond, as it will help us identify risk factors for developing long COVID and estimate the proportion of people in WA still experiencing symptoms after their initial illness.

“Even if you quickly recovered from your COVID illness and don’t have symptoms of long COVID now, we still want to hear from you.

“Comparing answers from people who developed long COVID to those who did not help us gain a better understanding of the risk factors and potential causes.”

If people have questions regarding the survey or any difficulty completing it, they can call the Department of Health Monday to Friday from 8 am to 4 pm.

On its 14 October 2022 weekly report, Western Australia Health is reporting a total of 4,859 new cases in the past week, 2,900 of which are active. That brings to a total of 1,164,098 recorded cases since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Total PCR tests for the timeframe were 7,653 and total positive rapid antigen tests (RATs) in this period were 3,646.

Anyone experiencing symptoms is strongly encouraged to stay home if they’re unwell, and until symptoms have resolved. Visit the HealthyWA website for more information on Rapid Antigen Testing or for a full list of participating testing clinics and opening hours.

Ritchelle Drilon

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Ritchelle is a Content Producer for Healthcare Channel, Australia’s premier resource of information for healthcare.

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