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1 Sep, 11 tweets, 4 min read
🚨I wrote a new piece about long-COVID, its future, and what long-haulers want.

The biomedical community is paying more attention but research is slow & often disregards the vast expertise that long-haulers have amassed about their own condition. 1/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
When I first reported on long COVID last June, few scientists or medics knew about it. When I described it to one disease expert, he said, “That’s unusual.” But it wasn’t—even then.

Things are better now. More recognition, coverage, studies. But… 2/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
Many long-haulers (and allied researchers) are frustrated about ongoing dismissal, flawed & inefficient research that ignores their needs & expertise, & watching people rediscover things they already knew. Academia is slow; their needs are urgent. 3/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
Long-haulers defined, described, & drew attention to long COVID—*all while sick*. They know it better than anyone. But many now feel excluded from their own narrative. The message seems to be: Thanks for everything; academia can take it from here. 4/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
Many folks are also treating long-COVID as a totally new thing, ignoring the huge overlaps with ME/CFS & other complex, chronic, marginalized illnesses. That’s slowing the pace of research, and shepherding long-haulers into dangerous treatments. 5/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
I think some folks still don’t get how serious long COVID can be. Some folks I interviewed last May have recovered; others are on day 500+ of symptoms with weekly crashes. One friend said it was “the worst day of your vaccine side effects, always” 6/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
Long-haulers don’t have time for science to do its incremental stumble, for dogma about disease to gradually shift, for academia’s gatekeeping mechanisms to slowly buckle. They need a transformative, patient-centered approach to research, now. 7/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
They also need social support, disability benefits, and for long COVID to be part of policy discussions about pandemic response. Our mindset is still stuck between health and hospitalizations, ignoring the vast hinterland of disability in between. 8/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
In this piece, I look at some of what we know about long COVID, why negative tests don’t invalidate patient’s experiences, what we do/don't know about breakthrough cases, and what an endemic future means. 9/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
As ever, I hope it helps. Of all the reporting I’ve done on the pandemic, the long-COVID pieces continue to be the most meaningful and impactful to me. Fin/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
(PS: Thanks to our amazing art team for not doing "tired woman at window w/ mug" & instead giving us this awesome graphic of someone looking quietly angry while she stares forward into the future, which is 100% the energy of my interviewees & this piece)

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…

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More from @edyong209

Ed Yong Profile picture
12 Aug
🚨I wrote a big piece about how Delta affects the pandemic endgame.

Many folks are upset & confused by the last month. Here's an attempt to reset expectations, lay out our goals, map the near-term future, & show how the pandemic ends--which it will. 1/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
The bottom line: Vaccines remain the best way for *individuals* to protect themselves, but *societies* can't treat them as the only defense. Delta is so transmissible that vacc'n can blunt it, but we still need masks & the rest. 2/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
The endgame is endemicity—the virus will still be here but won’t cause as much damage due to widespread immunity. Most people will meet it. The goals are: ensure as many as poss do so after 2 vax doses; and spread the other infections out. 3/
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
Read 7 tweets
Ed Yong Profile picture
22 Jul
🚨Unvaccinated people aren't a monolith. It's a huge mistake to treat them all as anti-vaxxers who are being selfish or antagonistic.

I spoke to @RheaBoydMD about why some folks are still unvaccinated, what to do about it, & why she's still hopeful. 1/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
.@RheaBoydMD's views on vaccines, and why some people still haven't got theirs, are smart and nuanced. Perhaps more importantly, they're also wise and compassionate. She has certainly helped me rethink the problem. I hope you'll read this interview 2/ theatlantic.com/health/archive…
So much of the vaccine discourse, and the blame placed on "the unvaccinated", ignores the big lingering issue of access--not only to vaccines, but to good info around them--and, by extension, longstanding inequalities of race and class in the US. 3/ theatlantic.com/health/archive…
Read 6 tweets
Ed Yong Profile picture
16 Jul
🚨I wrote about what Delta is doing to Missouri. Some hospitals have accrued as many COVID-19 patients in 5 weeks as they got in 5 months last year. Almost all those patients are unvaccinated. HCWs can't believe they're being overwhelmed *again*. 1/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
It was just crushing to hear Missouri's HCWs say the same things that I was hearing last fall/winter. Many of them told me that this surge is worse for them than the last one. They thought they were done. They're exhausted. 2/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
This time round, Missouri's ICUs are filling with younger patients--once healthy people in their 30s & 40s. That's partly cos elderly folks are more likely to be vax'd. But everyone told me the 30-yr-olds they're seeing now are sicker than those last yr.

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
Read 6 tweets
Ed Yong Profile picture
8 Jul
When birds first appeared, they couldn't taste sugar. Some ancient Australian birds evolved that ability by repurposing a sensor for umami into one for sweetness. And they gave rise to the entire songbird dynasty--half the world's species.

New from me: theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
I didn’t know, before reporting on this story, that songbirds—the huge group that includes robins, jays, starlings, cardinals & finches—originated in Australia. Or that very specific conditions there were a massive boon for bird evolution.
theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
Much of this piece is based on a new paper (linked to in the text) that packs an *incredible* amount of work into a few pages. There are probably years-long experiments packed into single sentences.

science.sciencemag.org/content/373/65…
Read 5 tweets
Ed Yong Profile picture
14 Jun
Good morning! Let me recommend some books.

First, @alicebell's OUR BIGGEST EXPERIMENT--an epic narrative about climate change, and how we came to understand it. It's astonishing in its scope and ambition. Out Sept 21.

penguinrandomhouse.com/books/676229/o…
In WILD SOULS, @Emma_Marris thinks through our relationship with wild animals and the very concept of wild-ness. Beautifully written and with piercing moral clarity. A guidepost for the future. Out Jun 21.

emmamarris.com
In a similar vein, BELOVED BEASTS by @nijhuism tells the story of the modern conservation movement, warts and all, and the people who dedicated their lives to saving those of other species. Insightful, compassionate, and always honest. Out now.

michellenijhuis.com/beloved-beasts
Read 10 tweets
Ed Yong Profile picture
11 Jun
!!!!!!!!
Years ago, my wife & best friend told me this would happen and I told them, stridently and at length, that it was completely and laughably beyond the realms of possibility. So: @lizneeley and @beck_smith are always right, and also I will *never* live this down.
Reporting on the pandemic was the most fulfilling &difficult challenge of my professional life. I did my best to give our readers a stable platform from which to make sense of a crisis that defied sense. I’m sad these stories were ever necessary but I hope they made a difference.
Read 8 tweets

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