Online News Coverage of COVID-19 Long Haul Symptoms

A number of the people who have recovered from the acute effects of COVID-19 are facing long term sequelae from the infection. As the COVID-19 pandemic is still evolving, so is knowledge of the long-term effects of the virus on patients who still experience symptoms. Clearly, news media play a crucial role in distributing information and this distribution of information can, in turn, influence the actions of the public. The purpose of this study was to describe the content of news coverage of COVID-19 long haul symptoms currently posted on the internet. This study utilized Google News, a news aggregator service, and included the first 100 English language pieces of news. Video content and news article content were coded in depth for information on COVID-19 long haul symptoms. A total of 41% of news reports mentioned the length of time that the COVID-19 related symptoms persist. The length of time was reported to range from 1 month to more than 1 year. The symptom most commonly mentioned was tiredness or fatigue (74%), followed by difficulty breathing or shortness of breath (62 cases; 62%), and difficulty thinking or concentrating (50 cases; 50%). Other symptoms were mentioned less frequently. There were no statistically significant differences in any of the content including having video, written news reports, or both video and written news reports by source of the news reports based on consumer, professional, or television or internet-based news (p = .14). More complete coverage by online news media of the long-term effects of COVID-19 enhances public awareness of the post-acute syndromes, augments health providers' awareness of the range of chronic COVID-19 effects and the possibility of a second infection, increases the probability of patients' seeking and obtaining the proper care for their symptoms, and contributes to preventive actions for enhancing public health.