Table 2.

Relationship Between Persistent Symptoms and Domain of Well-being

Symptom category	Well-being domain	Representative quotes	Participant number
Physical	Financial well-being	I lost my job in September of last year… I fell asleep on night shift, and I blame myself…I still wasn’t a hundred percent from having COVID in May. This was in September. Lost my job.	11
	Sense of self	Well, before hospitalization, I was very energetic. I ran my boss’ businesses for them, and the office…I handled everything from A to Z for them. And I had energy. I raised six children, worked the whole time while I had my children. And was in organizations and did different things. And now it’s just a whole different world to me. And I don’t like it because my mind wants to be the person that I used to be. And now I can’t be.	12
	Social connectedness	I want to go on vacation. I can’t do that, get on a plane. My girlfriend made a, it wasn’t a joke, but she said, ‘We going to Vegas…’ I laughed it off, but I’m like, ‘I don’t want to spoil nobody’s fun.’ I’m not the same as I used to be. I’m very outgoing, love to dance. I can’t do that. I call myself old now. I’m just a old lady riding this old car because I can’t keep up with my breathing.	3
Cognitive	Financial well-being	I can’t even go back to work. People think, ‘Oh, it’s so easy,’ but it’s not. I never thought of it that way. A little bit of brain fog, [and at work] I forget where a guy is and he calls for help, I got a problem, he’s got a problem…it affects me to a point that I can’t even go back to work.	7
	Sense of self	A little bit of brain fog affects me to a point that…you can’t do anything that you’re used to. Your whole life changes, you know what I mean? I used to be able to get away from people, do this, do that, go out on my own. Now I have somebody with me, my wife and I, we’re here constantly together.	7
	Social connectedness	But integrating just the details of everyday life, appointments, things with friends…I have a large family, seven children, 11 grandchildren. Remembering appointments, commitments, simple things. I call it the matrix, that’s really, really hard still	24
Psychological	Financial well-being	Well, before COVID, I had two jobs. I let one go because I just don’t have the energy. I don’t have the strength…And I think it’s a side effect of COVID. I’m not always cognitive of what’s going on…Something’s just not there. I can’t explain it. I just don’t feel like things sometime. I have less interest. Like I just don’t even care. I just want to lay in bed all day.	5
	Sense of self	I understand having fun, but that’s not part of my vocabulary now. I don’t look to have that. Some people look to have a funny moment, or look at their laugh, and laugh until they hurt. Not me. I don’t find a lot of humor in anything now. Everything is serious now.	20
	Social connectedness	I know the difference between laying down when you’re depressed and laying down when you’re tired. I call it the dark place. When I feel myself going to the dark place I pull myself up out of it. A lot of times I’m just fearful that I have to pull myself out of it sometimes. I try not to go there, I try to catch myself. Then I isolate. I mean I will isolate.	9