Long COVID and its many symptoms are the focus of a new campaign from the Pima County Health Department: a comic book featuring a main character who will appear at Tucson Comic-Con this weekend.
The county has launched a long-term COVID campaign to raise awareness of the long-term health complications that often accompany coronavirus infection.
They use a comic-book style narrative to make the information accessible. Attendees at Tucson Comic Con Friday, August 30 through Sunday, September 1 can check out the campaign at a booth near the table games area. The Long COVID character will be available for photos.
“COVID brings with it a certain fatigue,” said PCHD spokeswoman Cassandra Greer. “People roll their eyes and get tired of talking about it. The first time was quite a traumatic time. It’s just one of those topics that isn’t always welcome anymore.”
The comic is intended to help spark conversations about the disease to continue to educate community members, Greer said.
The most common symptoms of long-COVID disease include difficulty concentrating, chest pain, fatigue, dizziness, depression, anxiety and difficulty breathing.
“We want people to start talking about Long COVID again because it can be a pretty debilitating disease,” Greer said. “It’s a real thing. I think the last report was that six percent of people with COVID are at risk of getting Long COVID.”
The comic is about Long COVID and the Sons of Illness – the symptoms are portrayed as gang members – and their “misadventures”.
“We thought we could at least introduce it in a humorous way to get over the hurdle of people who are tired of hearing about COVID,” Greer said. “Maybe they can relate to it and learn a little bit about it. But really, our call to action is: Get vaccinated.”
Greer said images make complicated topics – like Long COVID – easier to digest and understand. The comic was created as a collaboration between the Pima County Communications Office, which Greer said includes the writers and illustrator, and their colleagues at the health department.
“We took the messages from the CDC and every health message and tried to tie them into a relatable storyline,” Greer said. “There’s a comic that shows Long COVID as a couch surfer. He starts out as a guest. He only stays for a short time, but he ends up staying for a long time.”
The campaign is an internal product, but the company is also collaborating with the University of Arizona’s CoVHORT research and surveillance study.
The comic was illustrated by Chiara Bautista Carpena, a graphic designer from the district.
“We meet weekly and talk about the messages and how we can represent those messages visually,” Bautista said.
Bautista said the design style they chose for the comic was to ensure that people could easily interact with the material while scrolling through social media.
“We needed something that would be visible in a frame and convey the message in one post,” Bautista said.
The character “Long COVID” will be present for photos at Tucson Comic Con.
“I don’t want people to think we’re making fun of it. That’s not our intention at all,” Greer said. “We use comedy and storytelling to make it more accessible to people. We’re here to shed light on it so more people know about it.”
