For International #LongCovidAwarenessDay and the fifth anniversary of the pandemic, I've written in @thewire_in about this life-altering illness, the perils of pandemic amnesia, and the 'escape velocity' required to course correct.
Some excerpts 🧵
m.thewire.in/article/health…
Some excerpts 🧵
m.thewire.in/article/health…
400 mn affected. 200+ symptoms. No approved cure. Widespread ignorance. Millions unable to work. Negligible medical, monetary, social support. Annual economic impact of $1 trillion. On the pandemic's 5th anniversary, this is the grim reality of #LongCovid
thewire.in/health/pressin…
thewire.in/health/pressin…
The policy shift from ‘eradicating the virus’ to ‘living with Covid’ has been flawed, as it doesn’t focus on prevention and protection of the vulnerable but on normalizing illness.
thewire.in/health/pressin…
thewire.in/health/pressin…
It’s called #LongCovid for a reason, but no one imagined it would last so long—5 years now for first-wavers infected in March 2020.
Misdiagnosis, medical gaslighting & mistreatment of patients are prevalent, often resulting in irreversible health damage.
thewire.in/health/pressin…
Misdiagnosis, medical gaslighting & mistreatment of patients are prevalent, often resulting in irreversible health damage.
thewire.in/health/pressin…
People with #LongCovid & ME are mostly invisible. The majority suffer in silence, slowly fading from life... In many countries, invisibilization is by design—in the absence of data, we’re not even a statistic; they’d rather pretend we didn’t exist.
m.thewire.in/article/health…
m.thewire.in/article/health…
Physical distress is only one side of the complex-illness coin. The other is the emotional-financial dimension dominated by the disbelief-drenched grief of loss: of former lives, work, income, independence, and relationships.
m.thewire.in/article/health…
m.thewire.in/article/health…
Complex chronic illness... exposes society’s systemic ableism, even among the ostensibly progressive. It reveals how conditioned the world is by ableist norms, how difficult life is when you don’t fit them; how we continually fail persons with disabilities
m.thewire.in/article/health…
m.thewire.in/article/health…
Complex illness magnifies mortality; melts & freezes time... a state of life where the ‘pause’ button is pressed more than ‘play’. Where you feel like unclaimed luggage on an airport conveyor belt, revolving in a time-loop, longing to be back in the world.
thewire.in/health/pressin…
thewire.in/health/pressin…
We thought this pandemic would make the world more empathetic... We hoped gov'ts would prioritize public health & create stronger social safety nets... Instead... society has developed a perilous amnesia and, what i call, a trend of 'ostrichization'...
thewire.in/health/pressin…
thewire.in/health/pressin…
Covid became capitalism’s great disruption, so they propagated the myth of its ‘mildness’ while trying to suppress science & dismiss data... They minimized #LongCovid & victimized patients, as we’re the counter evidence to their falsehoods.
thewire.in/health/pressin…
thewire.in/health/pressin…
...we’re still witnessing misinformation masquerading as health messaging and personal pleasure being prioritized over public safety...
But the medically vulnerable & disabled will speak up... for justice, equality... and better healthcare for all.
thewire.in/health/pressin…
But the medically vulnerable & disabled will speak up... for justice, equality... and better healthcare for all.
thewire.in/health/pressin…
What would be the ‘escape velocity’ required to turn this tide? Recognizing invisible illnesses. Believing patients. Funding patient-involved biomedical research. Expediting clinical trials. Studying post-infection illnesses. Expanding health insurance...
thewire.in/health/pressin…
thewire.in/health/pressin…
We need support, not sympathy; therapeutics not therapy; cures not contempt; love not betrayal.
We hope everyone wakes up to public health exigencies, not just Covid, but anything the future brings. Now. Because tomorrow may be too late.
thewire.in/health/pressin…
We hope everyone wakes up to public health exigencies, not just Covid, but anything the future brings. Now. Because tomorrow may be too late.
thewire.in/health/pressin…
Eternally grateful to all the longhaulers, #pwME, doctors, scientists, and others who have been lighting candles for us on this difficult #LongCovid path. You are more special than you know. May we all see brighter, gentler tomorrows.
@LCawarenessInt @LongCovidSOS @long_covid @elisaperego78 @loscharlos @PutrinoLab @ahandvanish @zalaly @SFdirewolf @LongCovidSOS @mileswgriffis @DarainChains @broadwaybabyto @CordeliaAppleb1 @AnciraBecky @LongCOVIDPhysio @doctorasadkhan @drclairetaylor @LauraMiers @james__glen
@MLS_Dave @thrasherxy @exceedhergrasp1 @patientled @MeetJess @myrabatchelder @catladyactivist @EvanBlake17 @manruipa @DrInfoSec @chantz_y @Ninjazz636 @iseeuliars @GeoEduOne @morgfair @julia_doubleday @TheExtraFiles @DrAmirKhanGP @MEActNet @1goodtern @Yash25571056 @LongCFoundation
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