The term long-Covid (also known as long-haul or long-tail) is not an official medical term. It is used by people suffering symptoms of the virus for longer than the official WHO-endorsed two week period, which is meant to be long enough for the virus to come and go.
Sufferers report a huge spectrum of problems beyond the three NHS-approved symptoms (persistent cough, fever and loss of taste or smell). These include fatigue, breathlessness, muscle aches, joint pain, ‘brain fog,’ memory loss, lack of concentration, and depression. It is not thought that people are infectious for the long period, but just suffer long-term effects.
Long Covid is a term used to describe an illness in people who have recovered from Covid-19 but continue to suffer symptoms many weeks and often months later. It is thought to affect around one in 10 people who develop Covid-19. The lasting effects can be debilitating and include symptoms such as fatigue, breathing problems and hair loss. Here, we follow ‘long hauler’ Sophie Wilson as she tries to adjust to a life with long Covid and searches for solutions that she feels the medical profession has so far been unable to give her.
However patients are sometimes not being treated well by the medical community
Claire Hastie, the founder of the Long Covid Support Group, warned that GPs were regularly misdiagnosing ongoing problems as anxiety or ME, telling politicians: “The science needs to catch up with us.”
