How long COVID has redefined one woman's identity and complicated Missouri's economy

While unemployment is at a near historic low, many businesses are still struggling to find workers — as many otherwise eligible workers in Missouri are out with short or long-term complications of long COVID.
Michelle Wilson was a nurse at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in the emergency room when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 in November 2020. She had what she calls a “mild case,” and returned back to work after recovering.

But then she started to feel sick again.

One morning, she woke up with chest pain and found it difficult to breathe. When she arrived at the hospital, she was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia – a lung infection that impacts the tissue of the lungs and makes it hard to breathe.