‘I would shut the door and cry.’ Some KY teachers struggle with lingering effects of COVID.

Months after Christa Roney got COVID, the instructional coach at Lexington’s Cardinal Valley Elementary School, “was so tired after a couple of hours of work, that I would shut the door and cry.”

Roney, 33, was diagnosed with COVID toward the end of October 2020.

At first, she developed extreme fatigue and a cough but counted herself lucky that she didn’t have to be in the hospital. In November 2020, however, she developed severe chest pains and heart palpitations, landing her in the cardiologist’s office with a diagnosis of supraventricular tachycardia. That’s an abnormal heartbeat that can affect the heart’s upper chambers. COVID, she was told, either brought on the condition or exacerbated it.

“I couldn’t walk a mile without having to sit down,” she said. “Prior to this, I worked out five days a week and I could run a 5K in 30 minutes and it was no issue.”

She was out of school for 15 days, but some symptoms lingered.

She lost hair. She had symptoms of anxiety and depression. She still doesn’t fully have her sense of smell back after 14 months.

The stories of the approximately 60 Kentucky K-12 school employees who have died of COVID-19 have been fairly well-documented, but less publicized are the struggles of the educators who survived the disease during the pandemic.

Roney works with students who need intervention and with teachers as a curriculum coach.

She had extreme fatigue until March 2021: “I was so tired after a couple of hours of work, that I would shut the door and cry because I didn’t know if I could make it through the day.”

“I wasn’t contagious anymore,” Roney said. “But I was not well.”

Roney said she pushed through because “there are people counting on you.”

Shana Donskey, a 45-year-old high school special education teacher in Northern Kentucky, got COVID in September 2021.

When she went back to work, she had a hard time walking. COVID “messed up” her vestibular system, she said.

‘I have serious vertigo now. I can’t drive very far. I’m in physical therapy every week,” Donskey said.

She got inflammation of the rib cage.

Donskey struggles with activities she could do before, like working out.

“I have problems going upstairs and downstairs,” she said.

She said teachers with COVID should be able to teach from home virtually.

“It’s changed things. I know it was hard on my students,” said Donskey. “There are daily challenges with my health, but I don’t want to give up.”

Lori McKeehan, a member of the Kentucky Education Association and an elementary school teacher in Knox County, spoke recently to the Kentucky House Democratic Caucus’ Essential Workers Work Group.

She said that beginning the 2021-22 school year, “I felt invincible.”

Then eight days into the academic year, she was diagnosed with the flu. Due to a substitute shortage, she was only able to take one day off work. Two weeks later, she tested positive for COVID. Two weeks after that, she tested positive for strep. In November, McKeehan was diagnosed with COVID long-haulers syndrome.

“Today, I am thankful that I am slowly recovering from COVID and that I will return to my classroom in January,” she said.

Kentucky Department of Education officials are not tracking the numbers of teachers who have had COVID.

However Jeni Ward Bolander, a leader in the educators group Kentucky 120 United, was on a Zoom meeting recently with five teachers, and three of the five had contracted Covid at some point. One had no symptoms, one had mild symptoms and one is still struggling months later with her symptoms.

“The biggest complaints I hear from education personnel who have long (term) Covid is the extreme exhaustion and brain fog,” said Bolander.

“The biggest help districts and administrators could provide right now would be by removing anything not absolutely necessary from teachers’ plates and protecting and honoring their time by not scheduling meetings that could have been an email during every single planning period,” she said.

Bolander said administrators could help by checking in with the staff directly who are still struggling from Covid and find out what specific needs they have.

“Through all of it,” said McKeehan, “we are still clinging to the promise that we will get through this together.”

Students are scheduled to return to class Jan. 4 as Lexington experiences some of the highest case counts of the pandemic.

“Because I am fully vaccinated and boosted I know my symptoms, if contracted again, would more than likely be mild,” Roney said. “I know a lot of my students and their families are not necessarily vaccinated. I have been and continue to be very nervous and very cautious for their well-being. “

This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 6:00 AM.