Miles W. Griffis

RECOVER: Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery The long-term effects of COVID are real. Join the NIH in the search for answers.

I'll be writing about #LongCOVID trials in kids for
@thesicktimes.org.

With the protocol for the LDN trial now available for public comment. I wanted to hear from parents and researchers about their thoughts on the protocol. DM me to get in touch.

recovercovid.org/news/recover...

It was an honor to have so many conversations w Leslie Lee on his podcast & mine. His being out about his LC status on every platform was extremely brave. There’s a social cost to being out about chronic illness & “salting the vibe”. Whether talking TV or pandemic, he was incisive & a truth teller

Leslie Lee III, culture critic and Long COVID advocate, dies at 43 - The Sick Times Leslie Lee III, an educator, critic, and Long COVID advocate, died on November 10. He was 43.

Another enormous loss occurred in the #LongCOVID community last month.

Rest in peace Leslie Lee III 🕊️

thesicktimes.org/2025/12/04/l...

A photo of Leslie Lee III. He is a Black man in his early 40s with a mustache. He wears a ball cap, glasses, and a black shirt. The text reads, "The Sick Times. Leslie Lee III, culture critic and Long COVID advocate, dies at 43. By Miles W. Griffis."

A screenshot of a message on X: L., MA @leslieleeiii Nov 14 Please read. -YB. All proceeds from the GoFundMe will go to cover funeral costs and as temporary replacement of loss of income. This is YB, @stuffhedoes Leslie's spouse. I am sad to share with you the tragic news of his passing on Monday, November 10th, aged 43. Leslie Lee Ill was a beloved husband, son, brother, uncle, cousin, nephew, and friend. He left us much too soon. I appreciate your kindness at this time, while we process our grief. If you wish, you can donate directly to his gofundme linked in his profile, any later news I will post from this account. A private service for family is being held this week with a memorial service to be held at a later date in NYC. He was to me, my everything. He was an advocate for others with Long COVID. He was an amazing writer and passionate podcaster.

Leslie Lee III, an educator, critic, and Long COVID advocate, died on November 10.

“He was one of the few voices in leftist spaces that refused to buy into COVID denialism," Taylor Lorenz told @mileswgriffis.bsky.social. "He was such a strong voice..."

bit.ly/44MICG4

Black text on a white graph paper background reads, “The Sick Times. COVID-19 trends report: December 2. While all U.S. COVID-19 metrics remain at low-to-moderate levels as of mid-November, wastewater data show clear signs of this year’s winter wave getting started in the Northeast and Midwest. The latest data are from before Thanksgiving, and the increases are likely to continue as outbreaks from holiday travel and gatherings show up in our numbers. — Betsy Ladyzhets CDC wastewater viral activity levels are calculated based on measurements in the last two years only. They do not account for the lower spread that could be possible with more widespread precautions.” A graph at the top of the graphic shows: 

WastewaterSCAN category for SARS-CoV-2 at “medium” with a slight decrease. 

CDC wastewater viral activity level for SARS-CoV-2 at “very low” with a significant increase. CDC COVID-19 test positivity at “moderate” with a slight decrease.

Black text on a white graph paper background reads, “The Sick Times. COVID-19 trends report: December 2. National wastewater trends from the CDC and WastewaterSCAN disagree this week. The CDC reports a substantial increase in its national average between November 15 and 22, while WWSCAN reports a slight decrease between November 12 and 19. Both dashboards agree, however, that the Midwest and Northeast are seeing sustained increases of SARS-CoV-2 in their wastewater, while viral levels in the West and South remain lower and stable.”

Black text on a white graph paper background reads, “The Sick Times. COVID-19 trends report: December 2. Healthcare system data and state-reported data similarly show that the Midwest and Northeast are seeing the start of a likely winter wave before the rest of the country. California reports very low SARS-CoV-2 levels in its wastewater. Kansas also reports low levels, in a new wastewater dashboard the state just launched. Meanwhile, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Vermont (also with a new dashboard, upgrading from weekly reports) report increases in their wastewater.”

Black text on a white graph paper background reads, “The Sick Times. COVID-19 trends report: December 2. "Vaccination rates in the U.S., fall 2025." The chart has four lines representing estimated vaccination rates: flu vaccines in adults and children (purple solid line and purple dashed line, respectively), and COVID-19 vaccines in adults and children (teal solid line and teal dashed line). The purple lines representing flu vaccines are much higher, going up toward 40%, than the teal lines representing COVID-19 vaccines. In the latest estimate, for November 22, only 15% of adults and 6% of children have received COVID-19 vaccines. Text below the title notes: "CDC estimates based on survey data from the National Immunization Survey-Fall Respiratory Virus Module, as of December 1, 2025." Text reads, “Seasonal flu spread is accelerating more rapidly and uniformly than COVID-19, at least in our pre-Thanksgiving data. Flu certainly merits some attention in the winter, but it does not pose as much of a chronic disease threat to every organ system as COVID-19 does. And yet, the CDC’s estimates of vaccinations so far show far more Americans getting their flu shots than their COVID-19 shots.”

While all U.S. COVID-19 metrics remain at low-to-moderate levels as of mid-November, wastewater data show clear signs of this year’s winter wave getting started in the Northeast and Midwest.

Read @betsyladyzhets.bsky.social's full COVID-19 trends report at The Sick Times: bit.ly/4pgWQaD

CDC staff with disabilities feel stranded as HHS implements new policy CDC is asking employees seeking telework as a reasonable accommodation to return to the office until their requests can be processed under a new HHS policy.

And the hits keep coming for disabled folks, though this one has been a long time coming: #CDC employees are forbidden to WFH. There's no real reason for this, and it's especially cruel given that CDC offices were subject to gunfire just months ago.

www.statnews.com/2025/12/02/c...

The future of Medicaid is “really scary” for people with Long COVID - The Sick Times The deep cuts to Medicaid funding in the Trump administration’s spending bill of almost $1 trillion — as well as new requirements making Medicaid more difficult to obtain and maintain — will hit disad...

Medicaid is the bare minimum for people with Long COVID and other complex conditions. But instead of improving it, amid skyrocketing disability claims, the Trump administration is making it worse. The impact could be catastrophic.
My feature for @thesicktimes.org: thesicktimes.org/2025/12/02/t...

A demonstrator in a wheelchair at a rally outside the News Corp. headquarters in New York City on May 20, 2025. The demonstrator, who wears a black shirt and skirt, holds a sign that says, “stop the deadly cuts to medicaid.” The text reads, “The Sick Times. The future of Medicaid is “really scary” for people with Long COVID. By Laura Weiss.”

“This country is not prepared, hasn’t been prepared for five years for this massive increase in disabled people,” said Dom Kelly, CEO of New Disabled South, an advocacy organization.

Tens of millions of Americans have #LongCOVID, a number we can only expect to grow as people become reinfected multiple times. Yet despite this increased need for healthcare, the government is slashing Medicaid.

Read more from @lauralew105.bsky.social: bit.ly/3MhxU48

Join | The Sick Times The Sick Times is supported by people like you. Support The Sick Times today.

It's #GivingTuesday! We're far behind on our end of year fundraiser and are hoping to catch up by raising $10k today so we can continue our vital reporting on Long COVID and the ongoing pandemic.

No donation is too small - can you help support us? 🙏😷

the-sick-times.fundjournalism.org/donate/

Join | The Sick Times The Sick Times is supported by people like you. Support The Sick Times today.

We really want to expand our work further in 2026 and beyond, but right now, we're just trying to keep afloat after a big grant concluded this fall. Help us keep paying ourselves and all the great writers we work with. Donations are doubled today and through the end of the month! (10/10)

Purple graphic with white text. Text at the top reads, "Our reporting serves our Long COVID community. Your donation makes it possible." Below, there are two thermometers showing donation progress. The first is titled "New donations" and goes from $0 to $60k; donations so far have reached about $16k. The second is titled "New monthly supporters" and goes from 0 to 200; so far, this number has reached 44. At the bottom right, there are the Sick Times and NewsMatch logos.

It's #GivingTuesday. At @thesicktimes.org, our end-of-year fundraiser has been lagging behind; we're hoping to raise $10k today to get back on track.

Here are a few recent stories that demonstrate our unique role serving the Long COVID community. the-sick-times.fundjournalism.org/donate/ (1/10)

This is a harrowing piece, and it’s critical to understanding the breadth of targeted harm being done globally to the LGBTQ+ community, to sex workers, and to the poor.

Pastel rainbow gradient background with three large overlapping circles in orange/purple gradients. Text in the circles says: “COVID isn’t over. Long COVID isn’t over. AIDS isn’t over. Keep loving, keep fighting.” Additional text near the circles says: “Inspired by Jennie Brier of History Moves.”

Aqua background with illustration of five purple-toned hands holding up white protest signs. The signs say: “Today we mark World AIDS Day.” “Our struggles are connected.” COVID isn’t over.” “Disability justice now.” “Silence equals death.” Along the bottom edge are logos for Long COVID Justice and Strategies for High Impact.

It’s World AIDS Day today. We’re thinking about the practices our communities have developed to keep each other alive—and the shifts we need to see in public health, from small groups to large institutions.

Not acknowledging World AIDS Day and engaging in COVID revisionism are straight from the eugenics playbook. One of the most effective ways of making people invisible is by erasing their history.

The end of PEPFAR and global cuts to HIV prevention and treatment are a longterm health crisis and an immediate, fast-moving economic crisis—not dissimilar from the ways that conservatives are waging war on queer and trans people by coming for their jobs:

Tragically, right as it was ready to begin rolling out, the Trump administration “decimated the infrastructure of global HIV prevention programs by its destruction of USAID,” said Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health. Despite the administration backing some small rollouts of the drug (about 500 doses of lenacapavir were delivered each to Zambia and Eswatini, which have a combined population of about 24 million people), Gonsalves described Trump’s “support for Lenacapivir” as “a hollow promise to millions who are at risk of HIV infection around the globe,” and “a drop in the bucket for a drug that can be manufactured by generic companies for $40 a year. We need the programs and services that Trump cut put back in place” — and for workers to be hired back to distribute this new drug to their peers.

4/ Also, Lenacapvir, an injectable HIV prevention medication which lasts for six months, is just ready to roll out. But as @gregggonsalves.bsky.social explained—and as I have seen in South African & Uganda—Trump just DESTROYED the needed distribution infrastructure
theintercept.com/2025/12/01/w...

Trump Gutted AIDS Health Care at the Worst Possible Time By the first World AIDS Day of his second term, Trump gutted LGBTQ+ employment globally and put humanity at greater risk of AIDS.

1/ For six months, I've been traveling the world on Pulitzer Ctr & Fund For Investigative Journalism grants investigating Trump's effect on HIV & LGBTQ health. On World AIDS Day, @theintercept.com is publishing an overview essay of Afeef Nessouli & my findings. theintercept.com/2025/12/01/w...

this is a really beautiful essay & it hits close to home for me

Graphic for World AIDS Day 2025 showing a Black woman standing on a higher red ledge reaching down to pull up a Black man on a lower red ledge, with the words ‘World AIDS Day | 2025’ on the bottom.

Today is World AIDS Day.

“An awareness day is not a strategy” is the US government's rationale for not publicly acknowledging World AIDS Day for the first time since the inaugural WAD in 1988.

#WAD2025

A wild sunset over the Mojave desert paints the sky electric orange. A cloud formation resembles a phoenix.

An intense sunset paints the casts a blood orange filter on the Mojave desert.

Ok

A wild sunset over the Mojave desert. The sky is electric orange and a cloud formation resembles a phoenix

An intense sunset paints the Mojave desert in a blood orange glow

😳

The hybrid protest, called Het PAIS Protest, was organized by @niethersteld.bsky.social.

It featured a powerful demonstration of 100 empty wheelchairs, in recognition of the many people who could not be at the event in person.

#LongCOVID #ME #PAIS

📢 😷Demonstrations for post-acute infection syndromes including Long COVID, Lyme, and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) took place today in The Hague, Netherlands.

Organizers are calling for recognition of people with these diseases, better care, appropriate policy, and long term funding of research.

Many thanks, Philip!

Hello Philip - I'm covering this demonstration for @thesicktimes.org, I wanted to reach out to request permission to use it in a post. If so, please let me know who to credit. Thanks for considering 🙏

"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.

Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.

r/covidlonghaulers • 1d ago flyingwithdoves I think I might have long covid Symptoms I've had Covid 4 times now. My infection in 2023 led to insomnia and increased anxiety, but I could still manage and work with Ambien for sleep and Ativan occasionally. This August I got another infection and all hell broke loose - internal vibrations, debilitating anxiety, constant flip-flopping feeling in my stomach, new phobias like driving, and I can't think anymore. I have such severe brain fog that it's scaring me. It feels like I've had a lobotomy. All my muscles are sore, including the ones in my head. It feels like a tight band squezing my brain all the time. I have constant sinus congestion and dizziness and high blood pressure now. It's hard to relax, ever. I've been out of work for 3 months. I have new paradoxical reactions or debilitating side effects with virtually every supplement and medication I've tried recently. Anihistamines make me hyperactive. Seroquel and trazadone do the same thing. Vitamin D gives me heart palpitations now. Magnesium makes me hyperactive too. SSRIs give me every side effect even at tiny doses. I can take small amounts of Ativan occasionally, but enough to actually calm my nervous system will give me a paradoxical reaction. It's exhausting and depressing. It feels like this virus has ripped apart my nervous system and I'm floundering. I've been searching this group for answers to all my symptoms, but it seems as if there are none. I guess "covidlonghaulers" is my new home while I hope for a miracle cure.

This person was infected with COVID twice and recovered. A 3rd infection brought manageable long COVID symptoms, but they were still able to work. After a 4th infection a few months ago, they haven’t recovered at all — showing how repeated infections can cause severe, lasting damage.

Northwestern and Columbia being famous for journalism and bending over for Trump seems a little too on the nose these days

You know someone with Long COVID. They need you to ask about it genuinely. - The Sick Times If community-building is a bulwark against autocracy, then asking after one another might be a good place to start.

A wonderful, resonant essay from @thesicktimes.org about how we can better listen to anyone going through something catastrophic. "Avoiding the topic feels absurd — like I’m standing in quicksand, and we’re chitchatting over glasses of lemonade as I slowly sink." thesicktimes.org/2025/11/28/y...