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The Biden administration on Tuesday announced plans to ramp up research into long Covid, following scathing criticism from patients and experts. The White House’s plan includes efforts to improve sluggish enrollment in a major study run by the National Institutes of Health and to create a new research task force to coordinate research into long Covid across federal agencies. Crucial questions about long Covid remain, including exactly how it will be defined, how prevalent it is among people who are infected with Covid-19, and who is most at risk. (Cohrs, 4/5)

The Biden administration on Tuesday unveiled a plan to increase awareness and response to the long-term effects of COVID-19, directing Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to helm an interagency effort to coordinate research and support for long-term patients. The initiative builds on a series of steps taken by the administration, including the RECOVER Initiative, a wide-ranging, $1.15 billion National Institutes of Health study launched last year. The presidential memorandum directs HHS to coordinate a broad range of educational efforts aimed at boosting research, tracking and coverage of long COVID-19 patients. (Clason, 4/5)

The government will expand a nationwide network of long covid clinics being run through the Department of Veterans Affairs, with officials saying they are already providing new insights on how to care for long covid patients. Federal officials will also launch a new initiative, dubbed the “Health+ project,” to solicit feedback from people living with long covid and use it to shape practices at clinics nationwide. (Diamond and Sellers, 4/5)

Two new studies detail long COVID symptoms, with one from France showing that 85% of patients who had symptoms 2 months after illness onset still had them at 1 year and some symptoms worsened, and one from China revealing that 12% of patients reported rheumatic symptoms at 1-year follow-up. (4/5)