I've been reading histories of various diseases - polio, yellow fever, cholera - and so many of them have long forms and/or lifelong "complications."

So how is it that long-form Covid (and Lyme disease, and many others) is met with surprise, disbelief, and rejection?

I get that the narrative around infectious disease changed during the last century, to a sense of triumph over these illnesses. It may be that we tried to erase these embarrassingly messy ideas of the ways disease wins over us. But... how damaging! How dangerous!

In a history of polio that I read last week, it even talks (though not in these words) about PTSD among survivors, especially those who spent time in an iron lung. It strikes me as very similar to the lingering PTSD symptoms among Covid survivors. These things are IMPORTANT.

These things are profoundly damaging, and profoundly important. I've felt so awful (and a small ugly part of me, vindicated) to see so many move into this chronic form of Covid, because once you become chronic, you become virtually invisible to our medical system.

And this is why I want to do research in this intersection of chronic condition/disability and access to effective medical care. I see so many stories in the #neisvoid community here, and I have my own stories, and I want to contribute to making it all a little better.