The Isolation of Having Long COVID as Society Moves On

When Karyn Bishof started experiencing Long COVID, there wasn’t a name yet for the symptoms that lingered after her infection in March 2020. “I had these continued, prolonged symptoms that I wasn’t hearing about initially,” says Bishof, who founded a group called the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project to help advocate for those suffering with Long COVID. She experienced extreme fatigue, nausea, and insomnia, among other things, but doctors kept testing her for COVID-19, or telling her her symptoms were psychosomatic. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] March 11 marks four years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. But while much of society has moved on from masking, quarantining, and isolating, some still feel the effects of the pandemic every day. Bishof, 34, who continues to experience Long COVID, says that many patients she speaks to still find it difficult to get people and doctors to take their symptoms seriously, or feel concern at being the only person masked in a hospital waiting room. “There’s no mitigation left,” Bishof says. “It’s hurry up and move on.” “ Having the government guidelines for prevention largely rolled back has only made the experience for Long COVID patients and immunocompromised people in 2024 more isolating. Cynthia Adinig, 38, has been dealing with symptoms of Long COVID since 2020, and says that, as someone who is immunocompromised, trying to avoid rei...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 feature News Desk Source Type: news