As First Wave Long-Haulers Mark Their 2 Year Anniversary, Why is Long Covid Still Being Discussed as a Weeks or Months Long Illness?

Today marks my two-year Covid-versary, as many of us Long-Haulers call it and I am not any better. I suppose it is better than calling it the “day I lost me”, but it doesn’t quite paint the reality of what these two years have been like. Read that again; two years.

I feel like I’m going through the motions, but I’m not really here. I’m not really living. I find myself really sad and frustrated that two years into this global pandemic, with millions of lives lost and millions now impacted by Long Covid, we completely lack Long Covid education and public messaging. It angers me that two years in, knowing we have millions of people disabled from COVID-19 and Long Covid, we are still focusing on studies citing patients sick 3–6 months post-infection, and that official definitions for Long Covid cite similar numbers, misrepresenting the chronicity and severity of Long Covid. I find myself screaming at the top of my lungs, but it’s like everyone around me is wearing headphones or has me on mute as they continue on with life. It’s very reminiscent of those dreams where you are trying to move or go fast, but you can’t.

While Long Covid research is underway and some consequences of COVID-19 infection have…