As the "We're all going to die!!!" narrative loses efficacy w/ the declining death rate, we are seeing the rise of the "long-term effects" angle in order to keep the panic going. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/coronavirus-long-tail-patients-symptoms-lockdown-a9563681.html

"Post-viral syndrome" IS a thing--but it's not new or novel to COVID and is correlated with increased incidence of somatization (physical manifestation of emotional issues.)

In fact, some researchers saw this wave of "long-haulers" coming...
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/779EC572B546D74A66899840786D8529/S0790966720000403a.pdf/fallout_from_the_covid19_pandemic_should_we_prepare_for_a_tsunami_of_post_viral_depression.pdf

In the aftermath of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, the world saw a similar phenomenon of mass lethargy, for which a causal connection to flu infection was never established.

Depression caused by lonliness and isolation are very real causes of chronic illness via somatization and are quite common.

The thing to keep in mind is that the long-lasting, physical symptoms from depression are real -- sufferers aren't "crazy"....

https://www.prohealthcare.org/news/2020/depression-associated-with-loneliness-and-isolation-should-not-g/

And the psychological cause helps explain why so many "long-haulers" never even test positive for COVID.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/hypochondria-and-covid-19

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/874612941

And the idea that people with COVID wouldn't test positive at all, despite repeat testing--even 30 days later--runs contrary to what we know about COVID, which is that people infected are actually PCR positive (although not contagious) for quite some time. https://twitter.com/ntldr2020/status/1280216182084251651?s=20

When people lose their support systems en masse, are told that death lurks around every corner, lose their jobs, can't pay rent, watch their retirement evaporate, shutter their businesses, and have nothing to look forward to...why are we surprised people have physical reactions?

It's just a shame that the media wants to leverage mental and physical health concerns as to a new reason to panic.

And it's ironic that pushing this narrative will result in even more restrictions and, thus, somatic manifestation of physical symptoms.