Pineau-Chaisson, a social worker, contracted the coronavirus last May and continues to have symptoms even months after testing negative for the virus.

Pineau-Chaisson, a social worker, contracted the coronavirus last May and continues to have symptoms even months after testing negative for the virus.

When COVID-19 first arrived in the U.S., Jodee Pineau-Chaisson was working as the director of social services for a nursing home in western Massachusetts called Center for Extended Care in Amherst.

These are people who survive COVID-19 but have symptoms – sometimes debilitating symptoms – many months later.

As scientists scramble to explain what is going on and figure out how to help, disability advocates are also scrambling: They are trying to figure out whether long-haulers will qualify for disability benefits.

Rep John Larson, a Democrat from Connecticut, who joined with another member of Congress to write a letter asking the SSA to work with scientists to understand what support long-haulers might need.

After contracting COVID-19, Pineau-Chaisson was hospitalized twice and took 12 weeks off work under the Family and Medical Leave Act or FMLA.

After that, she says, she was still dealing with "complete exhaustion" and "extreme memory loss." She wasn't well enough to return to work and, she says, the nursing home fired her.

So Pineau-Chaisson decided to get a neurological evaluation and send in her application for Social Security Disability Insurance.

"They said it could take two weeks to 10 months – and many times they'll deny you the first time," says Pineau-Chaisson.

It's still a little iffy about whether [long-haulers] will be able to qualify," says Linda Landry, an attorney at the Disability Law Center in Massachusetts.

She says it seems clear that long-haulers qualify for protections under the Americans with Disability Act, which would afford them accommodations for things like housing and accessing government services.

The requirement is that "you have to have had or are likely to have a condition that affects your ability to work for 12 consecutive months," Landry says.

Since COVID-19 has scarcely existed as a recognized disease for that long, this may be hard to prove, Landry says.

For example, scientists are still studying how to treat the debilitating symptoms of long-haulers, and it is unclear whether treatment will enable some individuals to eventually return to work.

Chemali says staff at her clinic spend a lot of time trying to help long-haulers return to work

In particular, she has encouraged hospitals to accommodate medical personnel who contracted COVID-19 at work and have struggled to return to their previous jobs and responsibilities