Among the many mysteries of COVID-19, a major one regards "long COVID": symptoms that persist for weeks, and sometimes months, after someone first tests positive for the disease.

Experts and scientists have begun using data repositories to try and answer some of the questions surrounding long COVID. Joining Healthcare IT News Senior Editor Kat Jercich to discuss how health IT can advance long COVID research are Michael Simon, director of data science at Arcadia, and Dr. Brett Giroir, former assistant secretary for health and a member of the COVID Patient Recovery Alliance.

Talking points:

How COVID-19 changed the potential for data analysis
A recent study suggesting the effects of vaccines on long COVID
The policy implications of the findings
Virtually everyone is at risk for long COVID
Some necessary caveats about the findings
What follow-up research should investigate
The Patient Recovery Alliance's history and mission
Hopes for the near future for data and policy

More about this episode:

UC Health creates unified data set to aid COVID-19 researchers

Research Data Alliance finalizes COVID-19 data sharing guidelines

NIH All of Us program makes more COVID-19 data available

UK announces five new COVID-19 vaccine research projects

Meet the informaticist trying to solve the mystery of long COVID

What the data can tell us about long COVID - with Michael Simon and Dr. Brett Giroir

HIMSSCast