CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in North Carolina has drastically dropped since last year, but some people are still dealing with the severity of the virus months later.

What You Need To Know

  • COVID-19 long haulers have become a growing concern for doctors.

  • Researchers at the University of Washington found that one third of COVID-19 survivors have long-haul symptoms.

  • Many survivors say they experience brain fog and random fatigue.

Michelle Drohan tries to walk about two to three miles every morning. But there are days where all of a sudden she feels like a serious cold is coming on.

 “It just hits you out of the blue, you are mentally exhausted and physically exhausted,” she said.

It’s not just her body - it’s also her brain. She says every once in a while, she will have brain fog. She is also suffering from blood clots. It’s not what she thought she would be dealing with in her 30s.

“I never had any health problems before and now it seems like I see more doctors and take more medicines and have more problems than I ever had in the past,” Drohan said.

She started to notice all of the symptoms after a brutal battle with COVID-19. In January, she traveled to New York to visit her grandfather who was sick.

On Jan. 17 she woke up with body aches and a fever.  She tested positive for COVID-19 and a week later and she was in the hospital. Doctors gave her oxygen and remdesivir.  She was so sick she wasn’t sure if she would survive.

“At that moment in time, I thought of my family planning my funeral, which is something I never want to go through again,” Drohan said.

In early February, she was medevaced back to Charlotte. A few days later, she was finally released from the hospital and reunited with her father and boyfriend. But, after a week, she was readmitted.

“I was readmitted to the hospital on February 13 with blood clots in my legs and both of my lungs,” Drohan said.

From March to May, she was able to live at home, but with an oxygen tank and a walker. Now, she can finally walk without any help. But, her experience and what she still feels today continue to linger.

“Nobody knows what causes these side effects and there are all these unknowns,” Drohan said. “Sometimes I feel like down the road I could be a case study.”