Long Covid in Europe: 36 million patients and their symptoms ignored!

When I travel on public transport or find myself in a crowded place, I always wear a protective mask. The reason is simple: I want to avoid reinfection.

During the Covid pandemic, the terror of contracting the virus led to a surge in the use of protective measures. Those who did not wear them were frowned upon; it became natural to distance ourselves from such individuals. They were seen as potential carriers. Do you remember that?

Then the months passed: Covid became less frightening, and gradually, masks were forgotten.

The situation flipped: those wearing masks in public became perceived as dangerous. I have gotten used to seeing expressions of disapproval or fear when I wear an FFP3 mask covering my nose and mouth; their eyes may not notice it, but I respond to those looks with a smile.

I have learned firsthand that people forget quickly and that the reversal of judgment can happen rapidly. The current narrative is indeed a damnatio memoriae of the pandemic, which caused countless victims.

The phenomenon of Long Covid is being ignored. Those who suffer from it find themselves marginalized, often ridiculed by the doctors they turn to for treatment, who diagnose them with depression.

I am not surprised by the idea that one day I might be labeled as a conspiracy theorist.

To anyone who thinks that way, I recommend reading these figures: the WHO estimates that, between 2020 and 2023, there were 36 million Long Covid patients in Europe (36,000,000!), while the European Commission estimated that this syndrome has weighed between 0.2 and 0.3% of the GDP in the economy of the twenty-seven member states[1]. I bet that in these two years the numbers have worsened!

What astonishes me is the blindness of politics in the face of the facts. Governments worldwide, whether right or left, pretend that everything is fine and ignore people with Long Covid and deny their symptoms.

But what can we expect from peoples increasingly engulfed by social media dynamics? From men and women unable to distinguish reality from fantasy, whose attention span is akin to the cosmic void?

[1] https://www.eunews.it/en/2024/09/09/new-eu-commission-program-to-study-long-covid/