The spread of COVID-19 has slowed significantly.

But plenty of people who contracted the virus are still dealing with the effects.

In response, Virginia Commonwealth University is providing a new avenue of care and recovery for those with chronic symptoms, known as “long haulers.”

That avenue is VCU Health’s Long COVID-19 Clinic, which just opened in the health system’s Stony Point campus in South Side.

The clinic is the brainchild of Dr. Peter Jackson, VCU assistant professor and specialist in pulmonary disease and critical care.

He brought the idea to VCU Health leaders about seven months earlier when VCU faced a large number of COVID-19 patients who hadn’t fully recovered.

The clinic is the first of its kind in Central Virginia and the third in the state. The VCU operation currently focuses on patients experiencing persistent lung, heart and brain symptoms for at least 84 days after their initial COVID-19 diagnosis.

Multiple studies from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others have shown that one-third of those who recover from a serious bout with COVID-19 experience lingering, chronic symptoms even after leaving the hospital.

In Virginia, that’s potentially more than 10,000 people who are “long haulers.”

The state reported Wednesday that 678,226 individuals in the state, or about 8 percent of the Virginia’s 8.56 million residents, have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the epidemic in March 2020. Of those who have tested positive statewide, about 4 percent, or 30,241, spent time in a hospital, including 825 Richmond residents.

The response already has been positive, Dr. Jackson said.

“We’re early, but I think everything I’ve heard from the patients that I’ve seen, they’re really grateful,” Dr. Jackson said. “The patients feel like they’re getting the care that they’ve been waiting for.”

He said the patients who are seeking treatment generally are suffering from long-term lung damage, chronic coughing, brain fog and heart problems.

Particular care is being given to address those symptoms in people of color, Dr. Jackson said.

For now, the clinic is open only to VCU Health patients who are referred by the hospitalists and specialists treating them, but Dr. Jackson said the clinic could expand to other patients over time.

“I think a lot of people are feeling they’re suffering alone,” Dr. Jackson said. “It’s something that the medical community is just starting to understand because the impacts of the virus are really kind of coming to the forefront.

“I think having a place where people can go and get expert care from multiple disciplines is really reassuring,” Dr. Jackson continued. “I think it gives a feeling that their concerns are being addressed seriously, and they should be.”