Long COVID Awareness Day
March 15th is Long COVID Awareness Day. March is Long COVID Awareness Month.
Some background about me and COVID: I’ve seen some shit
TL;DR: I’ve never caught COVID, but I don’t need it to happen to me to care. I understand science and history and know the importance of public health. That’s all it should take for anyone to care about this.
Many people wonder why I’m so outspoken about COVID, particularly now. To my knowledge, I have never been infected with COVID. But I have lived as a digital nomad for most of the pandemic. I’ve seen how more people handled this pandemic firsthand than most worldwide. And wow, it has been handled absolutely terribly, particularly in the US. In fact, I’m in therapy trying to work through how much faith I’ve lost in humanity due to this pandemic (So many people have moved on from mitigating the threats of COVID that I now feel guilty even bringing it up).
At the time of writing this, a recorded 6.68 million people have died from COVID since the start of the pandemic. That’s just what has been officially recorded. Many countries have stopped accurate reporting (and some never even started). Death is not the only devastating outcome of COVID. Studies show 10-20% of people infected with COVID have gone on to have long COVID symptoms.
As a perpetual traveler, I acknowledge the high likelihood of me being a spreader of disease. Not just COVID but any disease. I don’t know who needs to hear it framed this way, but: traveling humans is how disease spreads.
For this reason, I am very cautious, especially as a white-skinned, European-descended US citizen who spends a lot of time in Latin America. It is well documented that it was less so the war and violence that killed scores of Indigenous peoples during the era of colonizing the Americas – it was the disease that was so destructive. Smallpox, measles, and flu killed about 90% of Native Americans.
Latin America does not need yet another person of European descent, yet another US American, coming in and spreading disease. And neither does the rest of the world.
What’s Long COVID?
Long COVID, or Post COVID-19 Condition, is defined as the continuation of new symptoms three months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection, with symptoms lasting for at least two months with no other explanation.
Symptoms can include fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive dysfunction, but over 200 symptoms have been reported that can impact everyday functioning.
The exact numbers of those living with Long COVID are uncertain, but it’s believed that 17 million people in the WHO European Region alone may have experienced it during the first two years of the pandemic.
Long COVID Facts:
Those who are reinfected with COVID multiple times are more likely to get long COVID than those who have been infected just once. Catching COVID more than once does not necessarily make you any more immune resistant.
It's possible to have long COVID without knowing you were even infected. People can also get long COVID even if they were treated while infected.
Women are more likely to show Long COVID symptoms.
Both COVID and long COVID can cause permanent neurological damage.
Long COVID can last for weeks or months; some people have had it for years.
People not vaccinated against COVID have a higher risk of developing long COVID symptoms.
Research shows that Long COVID will cost the world a lot of money, and according to Harvard Research, it will cost the US economy alone an estimated $2.6 trillion – about a tenth of the annual US GDP.
Long COVID contributes to the US labor shortage. According to Brookings Institution, Long COVID shrunk the workforce by about 1.6 million full-time equivalent workers at any given time in the first 20 months of the pandemic.
The four most telling factors of people with Long COVID: (1) high levels of the virus RNA in the blood, (2) pre-existing type 2 diabetes, (3) high levels of Epstein-Barr virus DNA in the blood, (4) the presence of “autoantibodies” that attack the person’s own body.
We still don’t know a lot about Long COVID, and because we are still learning, the best thing you can do is be cautious. The best way to prevent long COVID is to protect yourself and others from infection: get vaccinated/boosted, wear well-fitting masks, catch coughs and sneezes, clean your hands regularly, and ensure indoor spaces are well-ventilated.
Final note: A large community of Long COVID sufferers is on Twitter. If you want to read about firsthand experiences of Long COVID, I highly recommend doing some scrolling there.