Pearson: Long COVID will do society-wide as well as personal damage

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“I’m not sure I’ll ever feel well again.”

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The tone of finality in her voice alarmed me. She was a friend of many years, a community leader, and someone who has left a clear and positive mark on London. Now here she was, five months after contracting COVID-19, feeling like she was trapped in a long tunnel of physical lethargy with no light in the distance.

What my friend is experiencing, according to her physician, is likely “long COVID.” There are other terms for it — long-haul COVID, post-COVID condition, post-acute COVID-19 — but they all spell the same thing: difficult months, even years, of struggle that significantly impair someone’s quality of life.

“Post-COVID-19 condition is not COVID-19,” the Public Health Agency of Canada says on its website. “Symptoms can be quite different from those during the initial infection.”

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It’s an enigma that is now the subject of numerous studies.

How do you explain such a demoralizing condition that lingers long after the virus has left the body? Currently, no test is available to determine if someone has it, leaving society and victims in a perpetual quandary. More than 100 symptoms of long COVID have been reported, most of which affect the daily lives of those suffering through the nightmare. Some of the most frequent ones are:

The Public Health Agency reports 80 per cent of adults suffering from long COVID feel effects four to 12 weeks after initially contracting COVID-19, while 60 per cent report symptoms more than 12 weeks later. It affects diet, exercise and proper organ function. Brain fog is common, as is high blood pressure.

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The number of Americans enduring long COVID has shot up to 25 million. No one is sure of the numbers in Canada, though the research is becoming more extensive. We are learning, for instance, that 30 per cent of COVID patients could be experiencing long-lasting symptoms.

The great mystery is whether this new and debilitating presence will become an ongoing reality. It won’t equate to influenza, which descends on its victim then dissipates. At least some of the symptoms listed above could become an ongoing reality of life for thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Canadians. What will be its implications for our health system, employment policies and the vitality of family life?

This could become a historic challenge, one that some health experts have come to call a “mass disabling event.” In other words, it could trouble our economic and social progress, challenge family mobility in ways unseen for generations, and hobble a community’s attempts to form a new future of social solidarity.

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One thought that is emerging — vaccination might make a difference. People who are not vaccinated may be at higher risk of developing post-COVID conditions if they get infected with COVID-19. The link could be due to the more severe symptoms they have during their initial infection.

For those suffering from it, long COVID remains a mystery.

Take my friend. She no longer meets first thing in the mornings with her associates for coffee since even getting ready is exhausting. She watches television too much and has difficulty maintaining her concentration when reading. Her garden is unkempt, she confesses, and regular household duties are foreboding. Newscasts are now too gloomy, and she worries a state of depression is setting in. She feels pain but can’t locate it.

Multiply this condition tens of thousands of times, and you have a societal nightmare. Just as we believe we might be breaking free of the pandemic, this is an aspect of COVID we never considered. It might never let us go.

“What can I do?” my friend asks in quiet desperation.

Perhaps it’s time we asked ourselves what we can collectively do to address it.

Glen Pearson is co-director of the London Food Bank and a former Liberal MP for London North Centre.

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