MaineHealth will close its clinic that treats patients with long-term COVID effects in January.
In a statement, the health care system says patients with long COVID are best served by a primary care provider who has a full picture of their medical history, rather than a separate post-COVID clinic.
The Portland-based clinic hasn't accepted referrals since the beginning of September.
Long COVID is generally defined as having symptoms that persist for more than four weeks after an acute COVID infection. Symptoms include fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, and changes in smell or taste.
The U.S. CDC estimates that 1 in 13 adults in the country have long COVID.
Though MaineHealth is closing its clinic, it's still recruiting participants for a study on long COVID.
Speaking on Maine Calling Tuesday, Dr. Cliff Rosen, MaineHealth's principal investigator for the national RECOVER study, says 100 participants have been recruited but 50 more are needed. Rosen says they're looking for people with a range of experiences with COVID, from individuals with long-term symptoms to those who haven't had any symptoms.
"These are important subgroups because we need to understand who is it that is not recovering from this infection," said Rosen.
Rosen says it's not yet clear what causes long COVID, and more education is needed to help primary care physicians stay up to date on how best to help patients.
