Long-hauler

A run-down truck stop on an old tobacco highway. Long-haulers eating breakfasts in corners. A church group in the gift shop.

The disease’s “long-haulers” have endured relentless waves of debilitating symptoms—and disbelief from doctors and friends. […] Yet support groups on Slack and Facebook host thousands of people like LeClerc, who say they have been wrestling with serious COVID-19 symptoms for at least a month, if not two or three. Some call themselves “long-termers” or “long-haulers.”

Fourteen months later, battling chronic effects of the deadly coronavirus and saddled with permanent viral-induced asthma, she is labeled a long-hauler.

Stephanie Schroeder, 50, is a COVID-19 long-hauler who tells her story to encourage others to get the vaccine.