Hi Elizabeth,
I'm sorry to hear you are long-hauling. I agree that long-covid may indeed be linked to our trauma histories such as ACEs and other adverse events in the face of too few buffers (including the isolation of covid) and reflect an altered ANS.
I'm a former family doctor and somatic trauma therapist. I now integrate (existing) research on the role of adversity in risk for chronic illness (on my blog). I've also been using this lens for gradually improving from chronic fatigue syndrome over the past 20 years, which I see as a state caught in freeze and likely similar to long-covid. Some people improve through stress reduction approaches but I suspect that a lot of us with long-term illnesses have more of a trauma response in our nervous system, which may be more deeply primed towards survival physiology and tend to need more than this.
I don't do research and, like Matt, my time is limited but I might be interested in some level of engagement. I'd be happy to discuss if of interest / or exchange emails etc.
I have found one excellent article summarizing this adversity perspective for long-covid in The Atlantic, which might give you further leads. I have seen very little else with this view so far re long covid.
As for working to support healing, I suspect optimal approaches aim at reducing ANS trauma responses / increasing perceptions of safety in the body. I have a post summarizing tools that seem most helpful to those with other chronic illnesses and that fit a similar context to what Matt has found to be helpful in his clinical practice. Healing might also include trauma therapies.