>>Just ahead on "One Detroit", we're taking a closer look at the impact of COVID-19 on public health.

We'll examine what medical experts are learning about the lingering health issues experienced by some people infected with the virus.

Also we'll look at how the pandemic has affected children's mental health.

Plus we'll hear what the public thinks about wearing masks to help prevent the spread of the virus.

It's all coming up next on "One Detroit".

>>From Delta faucets to Behr paint, Masco corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

>>Support for this program is provided by the Cynthia & Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

The Kresge Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

>>The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan focused-giving, We support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit dtefoundation.com to learn more.

>>Business Leaders for Michigan, dedicated to making Michigan a top 10 state for jobs, personal income, and a healthy economy.

Also brought to you by, and viewers like you.

(gentle electronic music) >>On this week's "One Detroit", We're looking at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic almost two years after it began.

Coming up, research shows face coverings are one of the most effective ways to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

However, public opinion varies on when and where masks should be worn.

We'll sample some views on the subject.

Plus it's a conversation every family should hear.

"American Black Journal" talks with experts from the Children's Center about the impact of the pandemic on children's mental health.

But first up, the aftermath of COVID-19.

Medical researchers are studying the long-term effects of the virus, and why many people are still trying to shake the illness months after being infected.

(gentle electronic music) >>Long COVID, the affliction suffered by those who pulled through the initial infection, estimated to be one of every three or four sickened by the virus.

>>We've had multi-millions of cases of COVID in this country.

I mean let's do the math, and 20% of those individuals, we're talking about millions of individuals who have long COVID, and those individuals are really impaired.

>>I was a healthy young woman, had no troubles whatsoever.

And then this happened all of a sudden.

>>You've got people with anxiety and depression, and different mood disorders because of what has just happened in their life.

>>We don't have two people that are, that have the same exact symptoms, and everyone's recovering at a much different recovery rate as well.

>>The minute I see someone and I don't immediately know what they have, it's a strange symptom, I'll think, "This is probably another case of COVID," and it almost always is.

>>Last month the National Institutes of Health announced it would do a population study of long COVID cases nationwide.

The website says, "Progress takes people like you.

Learning comes from listening."

>>The most common things we see are generalized fatigue, brain fog, not being able to return to work, not being able to complete their activities of daily living.

What we find is they can have fluctuation or changes in their blood pressure.

>>Dr.

Eva Feldman, a neurology professor at University of Michigan Medicine.

She's found much of the body's nervous system could be affected by the virus.

>>It's such an interesting virus, it's like a chameleon.

It can do almost anything.

>>In Ann Arbor, they're checking long COVID blood samples for markers indicating inflammation along with the examination of vital organs.

>>Talk to me about how things are going in general.

>>Henry Ford Health System speech and language pathologist, Anjli Lodhavia is working with long COVID patient Jackie O'Connell, who's struggling with memory issues.

>>When I have everything set out, it's there and I do it.

But when it's something I have to actually think about, that's when I- >>It's almost like your brain shuts down.

>>Yeah.

>>Yeah.

>>O'Connell got COVID this January.

She lost her taste and smell, but no congestion.

She'd been a case manager for a health care provider, but she's not working now.

>>Today I'm going to introduce you to some acronyms, and walk you through different memory strategies that you can use.

With Jackie, she stayed at home for two weeks, returned to her job and realized, "Whoa, like I'm, I can't do this.

I can't even look at the computer screen without freaking out."

What does that stand for?

>>I don't remember.

>>Take a second.

Even if you're like, "I have no idea, I'm drawing a blank."

Take a second.

What things are you going to do to help yourself remember?

I think the surprising thing for me is that all of the patients I'm seeing with brain fog were not hospitalized and they had mild cases.

>>Lodhavia sees people with strokes, brain injuries, Alzheimer's, that sort of thing.

Add long COVID to the list.

>>It just makes sense to have them go through this cognitive rehab program that we've been doing for other patients before COVID, to help treat some of these long haul patients.

>>I even had to do a resume for the disability.

I'm like, it didn't make sense.

It all threw me.

>>Was it more helpful after you went through it with your sister?

>>Yeah, I'm going back over there this evening and she's filling out all the papers with me.

>>They're not able to remember some of the conversations that they're having.

You know, if you look at these people and you run into them on the street, you don't see any physical impairment from COVID.

>>And we as physicians can help them symptomatically.

We're doing like diet, exercise, occupational physical therapy, but we don't have any magic pill or cure for this.

So it's affecting a lot of people.

>>Physical therapist Carolyn Brierley, with the Detroit Medical Center's Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan.

She too has been seeing a lot of long haulers.

>>Nothing about how to treat this prior to it hitting.

And now it's gonna be a constant learning, you know, on what we can and cannot do, what is best practice for our patients.

>>So I got COVID in the beginning of May.

I luckily enough had a mild case of it.

So it was kind of like a bad cold, essentially.

>>Detroiter Kennedy Robinson, age 23, getting ready to graduate from college and getting physical therapy three times a week at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan.

>>I have never felt so tired in my arms ever.

So you don't really realize how much of your muscles you use until they're taken away from you.

>>For some of our long haulers, we're seeing them in physical therapy for sometimes four to six months, because they're so de-conditioned when they come to us that we now have to build that back up.

We have to build muscle strength.

We have to build coordination.

We have to teach them how to breathe properly again.

>>So in Kennedy's case what's occurred, it's affected what are known as her peripheral nerves.

Well as likely, possibly her muscles.

>>I couldn't basic things such as dressing myself, feeding myself.

>>Robinson had no cognitive issues to report.

It was nerves to her legs and more so, her arms.

>>As you can clearly see, I struggled with getting my hands up.

They did lots of blood tests, MRI scans, CT scans, and everything came up negative.

Everything came up clear, like nothing was wrong with me.

Every time I would do things for them, they would look at me like I was like I was faking it.

>>Not an uncommon experience for some long haulers.

Robinson found another opinion from Dr. Feldman at Michigan Medicine.

A diagnosis, just part of the challenge.

Paying for it can be a problem too.

>>I have patients who filed for disability and they're not getting approved for it because, you know, they're able to wake up in the morning and make their cup of coffee and drive to the doctor, and those things are fine.

But when it comes to doing their cognitively-taxing job, they are not able to do that.

Are you making lists right now?

>>No, no, I honestly haven't been.

>>Okay.

We just don't know what's happening, whether this is partly psychosomatic, this is actually something going on in the brain, whether it's a component of both, which is probably the likely case.

I think we all just wanna know more about it, and look at the patterns across patients to try and figure out the best way to treat them.

>>Now I've progressed a lot, comparing from how I was back in June, where I could only lift about maybe up to here with my arms in June, now I can go all the way up to here.

My boyfriend has asked me multiple times about how long this would last.

And I always tell him like, "I honestly don't know, it just really depends."

Honestly, recovery time could be from either six months to almost three years.

>>So as we began to better understand that this was a real syndrome, and really happening after COVID, that's happening in parallel with the patients really forming support groups and beginning to collect their own data, so we can understand the symptoms that are occurring.

>>Patients conferring with each other online.

Detroit area physical therapist Ted Dechane got COVID early on, March last year.

His initial sickness passed, then came a persistent fatigue.

>>It wasn't until I connected with a few other therapists on Twitter who were experiencing the same thing, that we kinda realized that this was more than just our acute COVID infection.

We were having something that was continuing beyond those two weeks that we thought we were better in.

>>Dechane's online connections led to a support group, Long COVID Physio.

200 members now, all physical therapists with long COVID from around the world, talking about things that turn up in the media months later.

What have you learned from some of these online conversations that may be a little, even ahead of the curve of some of the medical establishment?

>>Yeah, We were really fortunate to kinda connect with some people who had suffered from post-viral illnesses prior to COVID-19.

You know, we've seen these kinda similar things happen after Epstein-Barr infections, after the first SARS virus in Toronto, after Ebola.

So we connected with a lot of people early on who were already experiencing those kind of post-viral illnesses and used what they knew worked to kinda help our treatment, so.

>>Dechane's group finds a physical rehab regimen not so useful, in many cases, cases like his, finding it's a matter of resting a lot more.

A year and a half later, he's at about 85% strength of where he was before he got the bug.

>>But I just don't know if the government is really monitoring the amount of burden this is placing on our society as a whole, and if the US knew the burden that this could cause, then they might be doing a little better job about trying to get a handle on it.

>>The economic damage from long COVID so far, hard to say.

The NIH has about a half billion dollars to do their population study.

Add that to more than a billion dollars for other studies over the next four years.

>>It's clear that not everyone gets over post COVID syndrome.

At least not that we're seeing yet, but again, the disease is new, right?

This is all very new and young.

>>There are gonna be other people that are coming in with the exact same problem that I'm having.

And again, they're probably thinking like, "Oh, well this is new, we don't know what's going on."

And actually yes you do, because I am that person that was dealing with the exact same thing.

It's like, essentially learn from me.

(gentle electronic music) >>The Children's Center has been serving children and families now since 1929, a long haul, in pretty much our same community that we're in now, for the most part.

And the primary services we provide is behavioral health and child welfare, so foster care and adoptions.

And so when the pandemic began, we had to very, very quickly pivot, didn't have but days really to come up with a solution to be able to continue to serving our clients, because typically they're used to coming to our location and getting their therapy done there, participating in everything going on on our campus.

And all of a sudden now everything's shut down and they can't come to their appointments.

So we had to shift very quickly to a tele-health version of providing those services via either a video, preferred video, or audio, talking to them on the phone.

And of course at that time, everybody was afraid and panicky.

So initially we saw the parents connecting with us to be just a lot lower, you know, fewer folks wanted to talk even via tele-health, because they were dealing with the real issue of what's going on now in the household with the kids being stuck at home, parents having to work from home, managing all of that has been a great challenge.

They had to deal with illnesses that came about as a result of people in their family or themselves.

So it's been extremely challenging, and obviously we weren't able to reach all of the families initially.

But now it's kinda built back up and it's getting better.

>>Children live in families, and if families are stressed, children are product of that stress.

So what COVID has caused is challenges with employment and healthcare and food.

And so you have families who have those stressors, so children experienced those stressors too.

And we have children who are in those stages of their life where social interaction with peers is important.

How we learn our social skills is by engaging in play.

We engage in exercises and activities.

We go to a school building and we engage with our classmates.

So that is no longer taking place.

You know, we live in a world where we've been told less screen time, so now we have children with more screen time.

So they are on the screen and they, the capacity to interact with their peers, interact with their teacher to get the extra help is a problem.

How do you learn when you have a parent who has to work?

And so there's a real concern that we have a generation of children who are missing out on this year of education.

And these are the same children too, who some of them go to school and they get two square meals a day in the school, and so we also are concerned about them going hungry.

And so the stressors of being at home, and the fact that they have a lack of interaction with peers, with their teachers.

And now we're also competing for screen time too.

Deborah mentioned that tele-health.

So if this is a child that needs a therapeutic appointment, how do they do screen time at school, and also do screen time with their therapist?

So we are really concerned that these are children who, parents are having to choose.

You know, they're having to choose what their children get and some parents have chosen, "Well, I can't use my data that I need for my work for you to have this extra activity, therapy or school."

So there's some real challenges in our community.

>>And Carlynn, there's damage that was done here to children and their sense of normalcy.

Just returning to normalcy probably isn't quite enough.

There's going to be a need for real focus on re-acclimating them.

>>We would certainly call this experience traumatic for our community, right?

And our children, we can't forget the impact on our children.

So we have families who have lost family members, families who have lost homes, family who have gone hungry.

And again, our children have been impacted directly by this.

So we really do believe that we need to be prepared to address the impact all these things are having on our children.

To be ready to provide support and services to the families that we serve, whether it's connecting them with services in the community and providing some therapeutic intervention for children who have experienced some grief and loss.

You know they have, we can't underestimate the impact of something as simple as going to school has.

There has been a loss.

We have a whole group of children who, even young people, who did not graduate high school, think of the loss that they had.

Think of all of the things that we just are used to having in a regular routine.

Children spend a great, most of their time in school.

When you think of how much time and what they gain in that interaction, that they have lost friends, opportunities to learn and grow.

And so we stand at the ready, really we do, to provide the much-needed assessment and services for those children.

Whether it is again, coming to the space called the Children's Center, or going to homes and working through the grief and working through the fear, because there's still, we're anxious.

We are all anxious in our community about the impact and the future, and what it means and what that new normal may look like.

(gentle ambient electronic music) >>I have my N-95, another disposable one, and this is my shield.

I always wear it when I got to the doctor and I visit places.

>>The LOL mask is my favorite.

>>Before Annissa Tuft heads out, she makes sure she and her daughter Kendall have their masks.

She has lupus and is also visually impaired.

So she makes sure that even if people around her are not masking up, they do.

According to the CDC, people with underlying health conditions are more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19.

That's why Frank McGhee says he wears his mask indoors around other people.

>>I have type 2 diabetes.

I've also had a struggle with asthma and bronchitis as a kid.

And so quite naturally I'm more, most likely prone to contracting the virus, even if I'm vaccinated, I get sick.

The truth of the matter is, the mask really gives you the edge.

And it may not be cool-looking to some people, but to me, I'm confident that I'll be safe.

>>Although there is currently no statewide requirement to wear a face mask in most settings, the state of Michigan does recommend that you wear one.

Natasha Bagdasarian, Chief Medical Executive with the state of Michigan says COVID rates are higher than they were this time last year.

And there are several things to consider when deciding if you will wear a mask.

>>Michigan is at high transmission, really around the state.

We're seeing a lot of transmission.

We're seeing our percent positivity being much higher than we'd like.

We know that there's COVID transmission occurring in the community more than we would like there to be.

And the CDC and MDHHS recommend wearing a mask when you're in an indoor setting with people outside of your household, and that's regardless of whether you're vaccinated or not.

>>And with the winter weather and holiday season approaching, masks should be a part of your planning.

>>As people gather around the holidays, as people come together and spend more time indoors, there are usually increases in our COVID rates after those holidays.

So we're going into the holiday season with a higher rate at baseline, and not just that, with the colder weather.

So not only does that drive people indoors into spaces that are not as well ventilated, but also we do see other respiratory viruses circulating at this time, so things like influenza and RSV.

>>Some people say they get nervous around people who are not wearing masks.

>>I don't like it, it makes me very nervous.

I get up at like 6:30 in the morning so that I am at the grocery store when the doors open, 'cause that is a place I see lots of people without masks.

And I'm just like, "Nope, not for me."

(laughing) Honestly when I can't avoid it and I'm in places where there are a lot of maskless people, in the back of my head at all times I'm thinking like, "Oh my God, what if I get COVID from this?"

Like, I won't be able to work.

I'd have to take my kid out of school.

I'll have to call everyone that I know to say, "Hey, you've been exposed."

>>But not everyone feels this way.

We noticed Tyrone Hammond making a quick stop to a nearby store without his mask.

What made you go into the store without your mask today?

>>I feel safe and I have a zip up hoodie.

I can cover my face like this, but yeah.

I mean, as long as I stay six feet away from people I'm good to go.

>>He also says he thinks it's up to a place of business to make sure their patrons have a mask.

>>Usually stores, some stores, I know last year they was handing them out.

Right now I don't see, no stores handing out masks no more.

>>Was it helpful to you when the stores handed the masks out to you?

>>I believe it was helpful, but I still feel the same.

I never caught COVID or nothing.

>>Very inconsiderate of other, 'cause not everyone's vaccinated, you know what I mean?

So if you don't have your mask on and I'm not vaccinated, you've given me a bigger reason to get it already.

>>Betty Wright says she waits until right before she enters a store before she puts on her mask.

But she says she always wears it.

>>So I put it on, and then when I came out, I took it off.

It's a little phobia for me, to keep having it on all the time.

>>And do you always wear your face mask in stores and all that?

>>Yeah.

>>And why do you do that?

>>Because I don't wanna get sick.

(laughing) I don't wanna get sick at all.

>>While there are many different types of face masks to choose from, Bagdasarian says your selection should come down to these basic considerations.

>>Any sort of mask that you may be using, the two things to look for are filtration and fit.

So for filtration, make sure that it's a multi-layered mask and that small particles can't get through too easily.

And for fit, make sure that it fits close to your nose and the sides of your face.

>>That will do it for this week's "One Detroit".

Thanks for joining us.

Make sure to come back for "One Detroit Arts and Culture" on Mondays at 7:30 PM.

Head to onedetroitpbs.org for all the stories we're working on.

Follow us on social media and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

(gentle electronic music) >>From Delta faucets to Behr paint, Masco corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

>>Support for this program is provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

The Kresge Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

>>The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit DTEfoundation.com to learn more.

>>Business Leaders for Michigan, dedicated to making Michigan a top 10 state for jobs, personal income, and a healthy economy.

Also brought to you by, and viewers like you.

(gentle electronic music) (bright piano music)