Long Covid is no joke

Measures to protect against infection have been lifted, hospital admissions are falling and Zurich’s public transport operator will soon be scrapping its vaccination tram. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the pandemic is over. For many people, however, it’s only just begun: the sufferers of long Covid. One of them is my ten-year-old son Levi.

Levi caught Covid-19 at the end of January 2022. The infection ran its course without much anguish; one night of chills and headaches, with things getting better straight away. After five days of quarantine with his mother, Levi came to my place as chirpy as ever. You can pretty much judge the condition of his health by the amount of silliness being carried out: as long as he’s ambushing me with Nerf darts, calling me «dude» and apologising to his best friend for my dad jokes, everything’s fine.

After a month of being symptom-free, Levi suddenly stopped the surprise fire shoot-outs and cheeky quips, stopped criticising my jokes, complained of chills, headaches and nausea, and cut a pretty lamentable figure overall. At first, we thought it was a harmless, flu-like infection. But the symptoms persisted. Especially the exhaustion.

The first week, Levi missed two days of school. The second, three. The paediatrician said: «It could be long Covid but we’ll do a blood test to rule out anything else.» This showed Levi to be perfectly healthy. He’s not deficient in a singe vitamin – and everything else is fine, too. The results were completely at odds with the boy who looked as ashen as Tom Cruise in «Interview With the Vampire».

The paediatrician referred Levi to the children’s hospital. They’ve recently introduced consultations especially for long Covid there. And it’s so busy that we had to wait over a month for an appointment.

In the fourth week, Levi only went to school once. In the fifth, he didn’t go at all. He mostly lay on my sofa, asking in a faint voice for the hot water bottle and not quite enjoying my prescribed Netflix series therapy – at least five hours a day with no more than two breaks.

What is long Covid?

Long Covid is the description of a chronic condition which can appear after a Covid-19 infection, can’t be explained by anything else and persists for several weeks or months. The term went viral in May 2020 after one sufferer described her lasting symptoms under the corresponding hashtag. These days, Post-covid or Post-covid syndrome are used in addition to long Covid. The symptoms differ – there are usually primary and secondary symptoms. My son, for instance, is constantly worn out (so-called fatigue syndrome) and keeps having violent bouts of headaches, nausea and chills.

The nasty thing about long Covid is that many patients’ suffering isn’t taken seriously – even by some experts. All sorts of explanations are being thrown around – from spring fatigue, to pandemic depression to exaggeration and laziness. As with Covid-19 itself, personal experience i.e. the number of cases in someone’s personal circle is taken to be the defining measure and considered representative. People who don’t know anyone with long Covid tend to be the least understanding of the symptoms associated with it.

Well, I know someone with long Covid and I think it’s a serious issue. Especially for kids who’re missing a lot of school, can’t play with their friends like they normally would and slip into a helpless state of irritability because everything’s too much for them. When my son and I were leaving the house recently, he ran off like he used to, before stopping after 10 metres and complaining that he couldn’t go on. Taking bike trips together isn’t an option at the moment. Seeing him like this breaks my heart. Every parent knows how vulnerable and helpless that makes you feel. Two months on, my nerves are shot. What must it be like for parents who have children who’re seriously ill for years on end? It doesn’t bear thinking about.

Things are looking up

The doctors at the children’s hospital have recommended that he go to school every day, first only for half the morning, then for the whole morning. In a few weeks, he’ll go back to normal. The fact alone that Levi has welcomed this suggestion and not collapsed at the very idea gives me hope. Overall, he’s been doing better in the past few days. He’s poking fun at me and my (in his eyes) inability to use electronic devices properly again. And the regular acupuncture sessions are helping, too.

But we still have a long way to go. Not just Levi and his parents, but all of us. I’m afraid we’ve massively underestimated long Covid and that we’re going to have to take a long, hard look at it.

I want to wish everyone affected – whether it’s patients or relatives – a speedy recovery.