When Deborah Shaffer tried to return to work two weeks after her Covid-19 infection, she forgot what floor in the veterans’ hospital she was working on. It was one of the many strange expressions of brain dung that plagued the social worker in Wichita, Kan, since she contracted the virus in November last year.
Me. Shaffer is a long-term carrier of Covid, someone who suffers from chronic symptoms weeks or months after their initial infection. After her failed early attempts to return to the hospital, she has not worked a full day since she became ill, and has no idea whether or when she will return in person.
“I am a trained therapist and clinical social worker, but cannot even perform the basic tasks in front of me,” says Ms. Shaffer (52). She recently started working from home, although she has not yet clocked an eight-hour day. .
It’s not easy for Covid long guards to return to work. Scientists are only beginning to understand the mysteries of chronic Covid, also called long Covid or post-acute Covid. It can lead to various symptoms after initial infection, including severe fatigue, cognitive problems, digestive problems, erratic heartbeat, headaches, dizziness and fluctuating blood pressure.
It is unclear exactly how many people suffer from long-term symptoms. But studies suggest that it is a significant proportion of the more than 107 million people with confirmed cases around the world. About 26% of 1,733 Chinese Covid patients discharged from a hospital in Wuhan between January and May 2020 still experienced fatigue six months after acute infection, according to a study published in the Lancet in January.