This is a good piece. But I’d say it in its own way is interesting from a psychological standpoint in discussing covid as a thing that happened rather than a thing that is happening – and being routinely ignored. We still have massive covid spikes in winter. There are still people unnecessarily dying. And here in the UK, we have a government that pretends covid doesn’t exist and so doesn’t even see fit to routinely vaccinate all but the most vulnerable from a disease that is, at best, fucking horrible.
I’d managed to escape, for the most part. Then, finally, I caught covid last summer. Not sure how. Perhaps a day out at a theme park. In August. I was fortunate in that my sense of smell and taste returned almost entirely intact, but even today, I’m physically still not quite 100%. Others have it far, far worse than I do. They have been forgotten. And people are still catching covid all the time, as if that’s OK, when we have no idea what the future holds regarding its impact.
Obviously, I’m not suggesting we have some kind of permanent lockdown. But I remain absolutely stunned that people don’t mask more on public transport in winter (or by default when ill, to stop spreading their germs), and that we do not at the very least routinely and accessibly provide affordable or free covid boosters, like with flu.
But, hey, we all want to forget. Covid: past tense. Even though it’s never going away.
This. I thought it was going so ewuere very different with the bit about people wanting to forget. My entire family is just so confused all the time, I got long covid, and three of my family members wound up in the hospital and had significant decreases in their quality of life. Two got Dementia.
A good piece otherwise but it hurts to see another writer act like people aren't still being killed and disabled by it. I won't ever have a normal life again, and it has nothing to do with a lack of socialization.
I’m sorry to hear you and your family have had it so tough. And, yes, the past tense narrative is just plain weird. We don’t speak that way about flu. So why do it about covid?
In 2020 they rebranded the 'flu which is why the 'flu almost disappeared from the statistcis to be replaced by COVID 19.
Therefore as the 'flu is typically a winter disease when sunshine levels are low, pollution levels increased and people spend more time indoors, one should not be surprised about massive spikes.
Of course ‘massive spikes’ reminds me of the needles on the syringes administering vaccines. Even I worked out in the 1980's that the 'flu vaccines were pointless as people fell ill anyway. So if you get 'flu and COVID vaccines you are getting a double load of disease causing toxic substances.
Still, big pharma will be happy about it, and they will say that's what really counts.
Thank you for writing this about COVID. As someone who was disabled by the disease, in ways that I keep discovering and no one can help with, it dizzies me how in that erasure we all did we Long COVID people were swept under the carpet. When I mention I have it, people (including myself) visibly look away and mutter and change the subject so quickly. But it's there, and the symptoms affect me every day. There are so many things I can't do anymore--and I feel fairly lucky about the things I can. I've mostly come to terms with it. And yes, when you said about shaking hands and hugging--I still tear up a bit every time I do. Somewhere deep, my soul hasn't forgotten about those years of drought. (Speaking of, it's been too long, let's arrange that dinner soooon) xx
Hi, I'm in here: “In 2019, the year before the pandemic, one in 13 people between 16 and 64-years-old claimed disability or incapacity benefits. That figure is now one in ten. The bill came to £48 billion in 2023-24 and will hit almost £76bn by 2030.”
A good number of these are people with long COVID.
The article focuses on mental health effects predominantly as the fallout from Covid. I see what you mean but it’s rather reading between the lines. It needs acknowledging properly, and I’m really disappointed that Ian didn’t mention it by name (search the article – the only direct mention, tellingly, is in the comments). I saw from your comment that you’re a fellow sufferer, I’m sorry you’re going through this too. My best wishes for your recovery.
I just read your thoughtful reply to Ian below, and likewise thank you for writing yours. I'm so sad to read about how LC has wrecked you, and yet, you, like me, say we're the lucky ones. Oh to live through these days, eh? Thank you, and solidarity, and hope you have as many good days (such as they are) as possible🫂
Thanks Gabby! I genuinely see myself as lucky, I can still work (WFH) and have supportive family and friends. Seeing what my fellow sufferers are going through breaks my heart though, as does new people joining our support group :o( Hopefully one day there’ll be a way out of this hole for us all. I hope you’re doing Ok and I hope you’re managing to have some better days too! Take care x
Gabs I was thinking of you as I read this. It really changed so many people in ways that are still not being acknowledged and supported as much as they should be.
I thought Covid would bring some lessons, but we have failed to learn some big ones. Did we waste a crisis, destined to suffer just as much next time?
First, it is profoundly disappointing that we have not developed the habit many in Asia have, that when we are sick and out in public, it is a kindness to put on a mask and protect others from the infection we are carrying. No-one should be forced, but setting an expectation that it is a kindness to protect others is a good thing. This is partly a failure to openly acknowledge how many clinically vulnerable, disabled, elderly and immunocompromised people there are, who may not be able to protect themselves effectively just wearing a mask on their face, or cannot wear one. My father went into the hospital last year for treatment (not Covid), and died within weeks from Covid, an infection the hospital gave him. I cannot help but wonder, if all staff wore properly fitted N95 masks, would he still be alive, and why do we tolerate hospitals giving people infections? I sat in the theatre yesterday (Jonathan Bailey is excellent in Richard II at The Bridge theatre) wearing a mask, because I have a vulnerability, and while all those coughing and spluttering around me did not cover their faces.
Second, and related, is why there was no push (as again happened in Asia) for air quality transparency and improvements. If we go to a cinema/school/airport/conference with poor ventilation, we're more likely to get sick than one with a fresh flow of air, and maybe we'll be sick for a few days, but maybe it will cause long-term issues, or worse. Why didn't we mandate venues to display their air quality figures so customers can choose a cinema they're less likely to get sick in?
Third, despite all the evidence, a powerful belief persists that when we catch an infection, we are sick for a couple of weeks, and then back to normal. However, this is often not true, for Covid, and many other viruses, and more often than we might think, the harm is permanent and life-changing. Every time we catch a virus, it is a roll of the dice as to whether we develop a devastating, disabling and lifelong post-viral illness.
Fourth, despite so many people desperately ill with long Covid, research funding is appallingly low and there are effectively no treatments for chronic post-viral illnesses like it. I know a 27-year-old who was very fit with no medical conditions, who caught Covid, and is now, three years later, still bedridden, completely unable to work or see anyone but his partner, leaves bed only for the toilet, cannot leave home except for medical appointments. The worst part he cannot be treated due to horrible stigma around cousin M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) and pitiful research funding in the decades before Covid - we still don't know the mechanism of these illnesses to be able to treat them. His diagnoses are both long Covid and M.E. Pre-Covid, M.E. was often caused by Epstein Barr Virus (EBV, glandular fever) but Covid causes it at much higher rates. The last ONS figures showed 2m with long Covid, without around 500,000 of them severely affected, which will often mean being unable to work or care for children. Around 50% of long Covid meets the diagnostic criteria for M.E. and many of these people are severely disabled, beyond imagining in many cases - they are often the same disease. People with these energy-limiting post-viral illnesses tend to disappear from life, you probably know someone in this situation who quietly slipped away, working less, seeing people less.
We don't need to live in fear of Covid, but we should all be a bit scared of permanent long Covid. It feels like an enormous missed opportunity that we took the path of pretending Covid somehow finished, rather than accepting that the health landscape has changed and making some sensible accommodations to reduce risks and look after each other better because of Covid.
Thank you for writing about this, Ian. I appreciate you not forgetting, which we're all tempted to do. Let's keep those still suffering terribly with long Covid in our thoughts.
Well put Ollie. I think there's been a leadership failure to prepare society for change in general. It's human nature to want to go back to how things were before, but there likely will be another pandemic and climate change will bring new challenges too. There's a balance to be struck between creating permanent anxiety and pretending everything is as it always was.
Ollie, I agree with all your points. I especially remember during the height of the pandemic that were discussions about improving air filtration in public spaces, but have heard nothing since. I am wary of public spaces and will only enter a pub or restaurant when not crowded and is a large space, with either air conditioning or the ability to open a window.
All of the above. 100%. And I suspect much of the attempt to return to a status quo that no longer exists was down to money. But it’s short sighted, because we now have far more long-term sick and fewer workers.
As I said above, the masking thing infuriates me too. It’s such a simple thing. We are supposed to be a country that is quietly polite and thoughtful. Yet last time I was on a train I was surrounded by grown adults coughing and sneezing into the air. Even my 10yo doesn’t do that. I got weird looks because of my mask. But I didn’t get ill. Honestly, with all this it’s the rampant thoughtlessness that gets to me, coupled with the people left in a bad place, which in many cases could have been avoided.
I wish I hadn't read this. I'm usually a fan of your pieces, but it blows my mind that you could write a piece on the fallout from Covid without mentioning Long Covid once. Just once. It's not much to ask. After all, it's the fucking elephant in the room. Talking about the pandemic in the past tense like it's no longer a problem. Jesus.
I'm honestly delighted that you, and most of the rest of society are able to move on, go outside and enjoy life. I often have vivid dreams about going for a walk — a walk! — because I now rely on a wheelchair that I'm too fatigued to be able to self-propel. Like many others (estimated between 1-2 Million in the UK alone) Covid fucked me up, bestowing the three gifts of Fatigue, PEM/PESE and PoTS on me. PEM is the worst — a counterintuitive, little-known snidey little bastard of a condition that makes exercise (even quite gentle, daily living activities that you wouldn't think of as exercise such as going up stairs or taking a shower) exhaust you, for possibly days afterwards. The fatigue isn't tiredness, rather an utter exhaustion that cleans you out, the type of incapacitating tiredness that means you don't have the energy to even roll over in bed.
Those of us part of the collateral damage of Covid are still there, tucked away in our homes and beds, unable to go back to 'normal'; a normal that is now five years in the distance and only getting farther and farther away. Trying to function in our little 'energy envelopes', tentatively nudging the edge of our limits to try to do a little more, then getting hit with a PEM crash when we do. Fuck.
There are days when I wish that the fucking virus had finished its job on me. I'm sick of being in this holding pattern, trying to get by as best I can, still ill but discharged from the Long Covid clinic. Healthcare that you'd imagine was set up to help, but if you're a 'longhauler', there's nothing they can do because you're not getting better, so, like many others I got offloaded by a Teams call, given a Word doc and sent on my way, back to a GP that doesn't understand Long Covid. Ongoing monitoring? Some sort of annual review? Nah.
People are still getting ill and dying from this. I have to take measures to avoid catching it again, like using a FFP mask on the rare occasion I go out, because last time I got it, it took a chunk out of my already limited energy that I didn't get back. Can't do that too many times.
I couldn't help writing this empassioned reply after reading your post. Sufferers like me have been abandoned. We had hope that a change of govt would reach out and help, but it's looking very unlikely from where I'm sitting. We need allies in the media to keep our issue live. We need to be seen and not forgotten about and ignored.
I hope that perhaps one day you could be an ally to our cause.
I'm truly sorry for what's happened to you Simon. This piece was not meant to cover all the different impacts - just these elements that I specifically wanted to talk about. But I get that the combination of long covid's absence and the use of the past tense can seem blase or ignorant. I really hope things improve.
Thank you for taking the time to respond, and for your kind words too — I do appreciate them. And thank you for writing your article. Because I’m confronted by this illness every day, it’s often all I can see. My response was never about me as such; it’s a much bigger issue than one poorly middle-aged northerner. I was trying to share a reality that doesn’t get talked about and the lack of coverage it receives is largely non-existent. Sometimes you just want to give the world a shake!
FWIW, I’m ok — I’m one of the lucky ones, I can still work at least. I’m part of a patient support group that is full of (now ex-) NHS workers who put themselves in harm’s way for the greater good and have now been cast aside, losing their jobs along with their health, keeping the support group going when the funding stopped, always checking in on everyone else. And all quietly slipping away in the background while society marches on.
Thanks for what you do, please keep writing the articles. Maybe one day, you might want to write one on Long Covid ;o)
What a classic condescending and passive-aggressive response! Long Covid's absence and the use of the past tense doesn't just *seem* blasé or ignorant. It absolutely 100% *is* blasé and ignorant.
I'm sorry this has happened to you. Your anger is a fair response to unfairness. I have just passed my 26th anniversary of M.E., caused by an EBV infection, with severe Post-exertional malaise and immobility. One of the hardest things for me about Covid is that the failure to research M.E. and the frankly ridiculous psychologising of an objectively physical illness has meant when Covid arrived masses of people become disabled and there is no treatment. I am sure this is partly because most living with these illnesses are women. Please look after yourself and I probably don't need to say it but don't overexert and risk permanent worsening. It's quite bizarre the government cannot see the sense in investing in long Covid medical research to get more people back to work, off benefits and paying taxes.
Thank you Ollie. I’m so utterly sorry to hear what you’re going through. 26 years?! I’m lost for words. You’re right of course, it’s unconscionable that M.E. has been dismissed and psychologised. I’m sorry to say I knew nothing about it before getting LC. The knowledge for M.E. wasn’t applied early on, and the BPS crowd were (and continue to) push graded exercise and CBT as a way to recover, and receive the lion’s share of the tiny amount of media attention available. I do think sentiment is slowly beginning to change as more high-quality studies become available (such as Rob Wust’s), and it will become more difficult for the psychologisers to keep peddling their rubbish. It’s a national scandal that this has and continues to happen. It is also positive that David Tuller and now George Monbiot are vocal in calling this out. I had hope that the sheer numbers of LC sufferers presenting with M.E.-like symptoms would push government to take it seriously and push serious research funding into treatments, helping all these overlapping illnesses. I do wonder whether some of the reluctance involves compensation for key workers who are no longer able to work because of it. As you say, it’s bizarre that govt isn’t meeting the problem head-on and trying to deal with it as a priority. Even if they are not looking at it in human, empathetic quality-of-life terms (and why wouldn’t you?!) there’s a strong economic argument to address this issue. As a recently-disabled person who is fortunately still able to work (for now), WFH is a lifeline that allows me to work. It’s madness that govt and industry voices are keen to see the end of WFH, too. The knock-on effect will see fewer remote jobs listed and therefore fewer jobs for disabled people who could WFH, but wouldn’t be able to work otherwise.
Unfortunately I found out about PEM the hard way, (I tried to walk a little further every day in an attempt to get better post-infection and inadvertently pushed myself to the point where walking is now very difficult). That was almost three years ago, so I assume it’s now permanent. My own homemade graded exercise without knowing what it was. I just wish that PEM was more widely publicised and understood, to stop new sufferers from falling into this hole. Thank you for flagging it up — It’s too late for me, but hopefully someone reading this might think twice before trying to exercise themselves out of post-Covid fatigue, and read up on Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM/PESE).
Thank you again for your kind words. Take care and best wishes.
I half wonder whether the “just get some CBT” angle is because it’s reliably cheap. Provide a method. Off you go. I’ve had the same from the NHS for tinnitus (“it’s all in your mind”) and an increasingly debilitating digestive disorder. We need more research on long covid. Mostly, moreover, we need a societal shift in thinking about it and also more support.
Oh, for sure. It’s a cheap, simple ‘answer’ to a complex problem, and allows Govt to say ‘we’re doing something’ whilst refusing to tackle the actual problem. A huge problem is the stubbornness of vocal psychologisers (who often get media time to air their views) not to recognise that this is a biological illness; it’s not ‘all in our heads’. Don’t get me wrong, CBT has its place within a range or things that might help some sufferers manage their condition. Another big problem is that often the same people will advocate graded exercise for sufferers, which as I found out to my cost, can make you worse (I tried to exercise my way better, to ‘build myself back up’). They often hide behind the idea of ‘deconditioning’ to push exercise, when in fact pottering around the house and performing daily living activities is a form of light exercise in itself. I now rely on a wheelchair because I struggle to walk 20 metres without needing to sit/lie down to recover (a few days before I got my Covid infection I jogged 4km), if I pushed myself to exercise now I could end up bedbound, in which case deconditioning would be a real problem.
Because Long Covid is an umbrella term, people present with a wide range of differing symptoms, so it’s unlikely there will be a single magic bullet for this condition. My ‘flavour’ of LC seems similar to M.E., for instance. The nature of all this means that we currently don’t have a biomarker for LC, which is convenient straw man for psychologisers to hide behind.
The societal shift is a massive problem, unfortunately. Not only do we have a cabal of vocal psychologisers, we also have conspiracy theorists and a society and media that is largely desperate to forget and ‘move on’ from the pandemic. It massively hurt our cause when it was found that Johnson described LC as ‘BOLLOCKS’ in the acute phase of the pandemic. To have the Prime Minister dismiss the illness set the tone right at the top of government. That’s obviously extreme, but subtly using phrases such as ‘during Covid’ past-tense something that is still a live issue for millions of people. I have heard James O’Brien correct himself before now when talking about it on his show, and explaining why and I’m grateful about that. Mitigations are a problem, too. It also takes courage to stand out by wearing a mask in crowded areas to try and avoid reinfection, so I think many people don’t, and sometimes those that do, still use useless cloth types, rather than FFP3 ones. Again, each part of this has been politically charged. So it’s a bit of a mess, basically. I don’t know what the solution is. I’d like to think that serious research into the biological mechanisms of the condition and treatments is the way out. Once we have more hard science on this, the psychologising will seem even sillier than it currently is, and the noise from these quarters would hopefully die down. But it requires targeted funding to get there. It’s research funding that wouldn’t just target LC, but would also likely help adjacent/overlapping conditions such as M.E., fibromyalgia and many others — it would be money very well spent.
Sorry to hear things are so tough for you. As for “It also takes courage to stand out by wearing a mask in crowded areas to try and avoid reinfection”, I find it baffling that mask use wasn’t normalised for people who are ill, but masks ended up aligned with some kind of dystopia. Insane.
Thanks Craig, I consider myself lucky all things considered 👍 Yes, it’s baffling that mask wearing became politicised. We didn’t learn from SE Asian countries that used them to good effect against Covid. But, not all masks are equal. The cloth type and blue surgical masks with air gaps around the sides that were popular in the early days of the pandemic are next to useless in cutting out airborne viruses; the messaging wasn’t there to promote using FFP2 & 3 grade masks and fitting them correctly (and they weren’t readily available). Conspiracy theorists had a part to play in this too, with deliberate misinformation around effectiveness and pushing the misapprehension that masks work like a sieve, when in reality a static charge helps capture the tiniest particles. There was and still is the huge problem that was highlighted during the last module of the Covid Inquiry, by the stubborn reluctance of key figures to accept that Covid is primarily airborne, rather than droplet-based. It sounds inconsequential but it’s fundamental to how we understand and mitigate spread of the virus, and raises yet more questions about what PPE was considered suitable. I think the train has left the station with regard to masking (although I still do it in situations I consider high-risk, eg. GP surgery/hospital/public transport), I am an outlier, I have first-hand experience of what this virus can do, and I can’t afford to catch it again if I can help it. It seems utterly loopy to me that this and the prev govt didn’t put together a clean air strategy for schools and hospitals where infection and transmission are most likely. Air purifiers such as Corsi-Rosenthal boxes are inexpensive and can be very effective at removing viral particles from the air. This isn’t just about Covid, this also removes other airborne pathogens and pollutants from the air, cheaply and effectively. Sickness absences are a huge problem for schools, so this feels like a no-brainer. To me at least, it feels like not only have we learnt nothing from the last five years, but sadly we’re actively trying to ignore it.
I have also wondered whether the sweeping under the carpet of long covid is due to worry about compensation claims - a sadly familiar issue recently. Perhaps time for a really good documentary on this?
I too was disappointed that Ian did not mention the physical illness Long Covid, so I am pleased to see that he has responded to you. I have had ME for nearly 27 years, the last 12 years bed bound and housebound in total for 17 years, so effectively a 17 year lock down. As we know a main form of Long Covid shares a very similar clinical picture to ME, especially the post exertional symptom exacerbation, and it is so depressing to see much of the medical profession and in turn much of the media minimising and ignoring long covid as they have with ME for decades.
The journalist George Monbiot did an excellent article last year on the medical scandal thot is ME that is now happening to Long Covid too. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree
“You don’t want to get better’: the outdated treatment of ME/CFS patients is a national scandal”.
The Government 3 years ago said they were doing an action plan on ME which is coming out this month, but last month the Government said they are putting no more money towards researching ME. Funding for ME is risible. However, we we have got the disability benefit cuts to look forward to. They really should be funding biomedical research for post infectious illnesses as it would save money in the long term.
Thank you Annie, and I’m so very sorry to read about your situation. 27 years of suffering is utterly heartbreaking. I can’t begin to imagine what you’re going through.
Thank you so much for sharing those powerful articles. I’m a big fan of both George Monbiot and David Tuller, we’re lucky to have them on our side. I don’t know if you’ve seen the videos of their discussions from last year, I found them interesting.
Solidarity from this LC sufferer. I hope that the paradigm shift away from the damaging, minimising and insulting ‘it’s all in your head’ nonsense happens quickly and fully; and that properly targeted biomedical research funding can open the door to effective treatments for all of us with these related conditions. Wishing you better days ahead.
For me, this will never be forgotten, and the day for me was the 15th March when I started to fall ill from the symptoms that Sunday night. “Beware the Ides of March” was a true foretelling for myself as I spent the next two and half weeks suffering the highest temperature & longest continuous headache in my fifty years of existence. It was all so chaotic in the UK with testing cancelled as I got steadily worse and couldn’t confirm with my employer that I was suffering from Covid-19 original strain!
The government looked totally bereft of ideas and the warning from Italy was totally ignored in that time. I’m convinced that I caught my illness on the London Underground as I worked in Victoria at the time with a daily commute there and we could have avoided that if we had taken proper steps by the end of February. Alas, not to be and I’m so glad you have written this article as it was one of the most significant times in my life & should never be forgotten
I did want to read this. It worried me deeply how the UK muddled through the crisis in an avoidably incompetent way, stopped widely vaccinating so early and stopped providing free test kits so early, and has hardly talked about long covid at all. I think it likely that a substantial proportion of the addition people suffering from disability since the pandemic have long covid rather than mental health issues.
Thank you for talking about vaccination. I find it abhorrent that we no longer vaccinate the majority of the population against covid, knowing full well that it causes long term disability still.
I’m now at the age where my GP surgery hassles me to get a (paid) flu jab. It has never once suggested a covid booster. I think that says it all. (Not that either is terribly accessible locally, and only one of them is affordable.)
Yeah, it's a joke. Sadly covid gave me a life-long, extremely serious autoimmune condition, so now I qualify for both the flu and covid jabs via the NHS. But what a way to qualify.
Covid is still around - we just stopped counting, for all the reasons you imply.
I have a hypothesis on mental health that doesn't counter anything you have suggested but rather adds to it's hellish complexity. Work for a great many people sucked before the pandemic, it has sucked for decades. The suckage levels increased as tech made so many of us 24/7 slaves to our employer's whims. Working for home is presented as a blessing or a luxury for dilettantes but really it just exposes that the leash between many of us and work is ever present.
The pandemic severed that leash to some degree and I suspect may people realised suddenly that they had been existing under a burden of constant low to mid level stress. And they felt relief but they also realised they were a bit broken and the thought of an office filled them with a dread of going back to that ever present sense of crushing stress and despair.
We've allowed work to become horrible. Pay stagnates. The nation is increasingly devoid of entertainments that most of us can afford. And we're told this is all our fault. We have failed and deserve to live this way. And now the party we hoped would save us are instead putting the boot in while the wider world spirals into chaos under the ham fisted guidance of people saner societies would have sectioned long since.
And with all that we're surprised there is a mental health crisis. Covid didn't cause this, it may have increased it, but mostly covid created conditions that exposed what was already there.
Tom, you're onto something here. My experience of Covid chimes with much of what you've written. I've been physically fortunate - spent lockdown obliged to shield because of asthma & COPD, caught Covid very early on & it was pretty bad but I recovered & my health hasn't worsened. But mentally & politically Covid started a process of dissociation from work that, yes, had begun many years before, but which lockdown magnified and accelerated.
Many colleagues in my position simply stayed at home & did nothing. Some positively revelled in their forced inactivity. My work ethic couldn't stomach that, so I worked from home throughout, doing a range of work I don't normally do. I helped my organisation survive lockdown. But when I finally returned to the office, the Great Forgetting had already begun. No-one gave a crap what I'd done. As far as my employer was concerned, I was just 'one of the sickies' who took advantage of their pre-existing health conditions to do fuck all for months on end.
I think the end of lockdown revealed to many people the true nature of their relationships with their employers. Nearly 18 months of dedication working from home meant nothing; all that mattered now was to get bums back on seats. And fewer of them: my employer used lockdown as an opportunity to restructure and slash work teams by over 50 percent, even though they didn't actually suffer any financial loss during the pandemic. I wished I'd sat on my arse, read more books, got more sleep. Turns out my colleagues had the right idea.
Yes, work has become horrible, but we didn't allow it to get that way: it always was. It sucked, like you said, but I feel many of us had swallowed our employer's Kool-Aid about our jobs; we allowed ourselves to believe we were playing a more complex role, one in which our competence and enthusiasm mattered, a lot. Lockdown taught me that was an illusion. It taught 3 million self-employed workers that they don't matter to the government, so they got either less financial support than others, or none. We banged our pots and pans for them but millions of health workers got no pay rise after lockdown, only a very modest one-off payment - and many thousands who didn't work directly for the NHS had to fight for theirs after being left out of the government's calculations.
For me, the leash has loosened. I'm now essentially one of the 'quiet quitters', because I can't believe in work like I used to. It's an extensive, if shallow, psychic wound. What I thought I was FOR, I no longer am, and I believe I am one of millions. It won't make for a revolution, but it won't make for resurgent economic growth either.
I’d hoped that, if nothing else, there would be two way win silver linings from the horrors of covid: routine masking when ill and greater workplace flexibility. Masking is dead. And workplace flexibility is being eroded by the way by projecting management assuming that workers will do nothing unless monitored.
As for the self-employed thing, I’ll never forgive that. Most people have forgotten. Sunak is regularly praised for furlough. One of the things he got right. But initially, every self-employed person and most micro-businesses were exempt. And even when the rules changed, many people got nothing, for a range of reasons.
i'd hoped the masking would stick too, maybe a little like how Japan and others treat it as a sensible precaution but it was doomed when the right wing dickbags turned covid medical advice into another of their moronic culture war issues.
their stupidity comes with a body count and I dearly wish their was some way they could be held accountable for every death.
Your posts are usually a breath of fresh air, but I found this one stifling. For those of us who are immune compromised, the pandemic has never gone away. You’d be surprised how many people are still trying to avoid infection with Covid 19. People of all ages, including parents of vulnerable children. We have been thrown under a bus by government policies, both Conservative and Labour.
My husband and I are in our seventies, and both have cancer; I have to take lifelong chemotherapy medication. We are just trying to enjoy our last years (or however long we’ve got) together, while supporting each other and our children and grandchildren. In avoiding Covid, we’re not just trying to avoid death – we’re also very conscious of the effect that infection and its consequences would have on our ability to stay independent. Our social lives have been hugely curtailed, now mostly taking place online, and I had to give up self-employment. We wear masks everywhere we go. Our trips out are predominantly medical appointments, which we approach with trepidation as all mitigations have been dropped, even for vaccination clinics aimed at elderly and vulnerable people. We get gaslit by medical staff: my husband was recently told by a GP that he didn’t need to wear a mask in the surgery, as she was vaccinated and without symptoms! No mention of all the ill people who had been breathing in the unventilated space all morning.
People are still catching Covid in hospital. People are still dying of Covid – not so many as previously, but still dying. People are still suffering from Long Covid, and/or a multiplicity of organ damage, brain damage, damage to their immune systems. Could some of the increase in mental illness be a direct result of brain damage from Covid?
For me, staying alive and as well as I possibly can is an act of subversion, cocking a snook at those who think I am a waste of space and resources. Boris Johnson’s war cry – “let the bodies pile high” – still resounds. The callousness and complacency of the last few years shows no sign of abating.
Thank you for bothering to put down in words (even when you didn't want to) exactly what I've been noticing and feeling. And I'd never thought to notice how the Spanish flu had a similar 'blank' effect but that's totally spot on. We don't want to think about the existential threat of bacteria and viruses....and the reality is, we need to because otherwise we're walking blindly into an abyss with virtual reality goggles on and sweet music playing in our AirPods. Keep writing what we don't want to read Mr Dunt!
Working through the whole pandemic, taking care of military kids in a daycare, and never shutting down, made my experience so different. It was scary and yet you were numb and still had to function and be there 100% for the littles.
I remember coming in through the garage, shedding all my clothes directly into the washer and heading to the shower, not allowing my 3 year old to touch me until after.. she was home with her Dad all day while I worked, and this little thing broke my heart on the daily
Thanks for this thoughtful and humane piece, Ian. I can see you've addressed this in replies to others, but I too thought it was very telling that in the midst of such a reflective and empathetic piece, there was no mention of long covid, and that you were writing as though covid was a thing of the past, rather than something many of us are still living with every day. I understand that, for exactly the reasons that you state in the post: people don't want to think about that period of time, so it's psychologically easy to ignore those of us who are still suffering.
But the public and media silence about covid is reflected in the government's and health service's complete lack of interest in dealing with long covid - and the latter is really, really shocking. Like one of your other reply-ees, I've been discharged from the local long covid clinic (which I think has since shut), not because I'm better, but because they have no idea how to help me.
Luckily I'm doing a lot better than many people. I've found ways to manage the condition, my Pots is a thing of the past and the PEM is much much better. But I'm still living with it, and very much part of the statistics you quote about people too sick to work.
So I very much hope that we as a nation can come to terms with covid. I agree with pretty much everything you say. But we also need to acknowledge it's a present-tense event as well as a past-tense one.
A lot of that labelled "mental health" will include the "Covid Brain Fog" (aka brain damage) and ME-style post-viral fatigue will likewise be put under "anxiety" "exhaustion" etc. These are physical.
"Mental health" terminology also tends towards the fallout from the stress of the pandemic and the lockdown etc (as well as the societal consequences), as you so brilliantly describe.
But we mustn't let that obscure the bigger issue of the Virus itself. Especially Viral Persistence (in addition to post-viral damage).
Covid fucks the immune system. People get sicker and for longer. And it keeps coming back in newer forms.
Healthcare settings are unsafe for many so people get sicker if they attend and sicker if they don't attend.
Work absence up. Productivity down. Brain fog. Constant "colds" and exhaustion (and ensuing low level "mental health" misery).
Not to mention those not in any stats, and not currently claiming any benefits, who continue to work, but who will get knackered sooner (esp Teachers and HC workers), or the young with compromised bodies. A lot still to come down the track.
Covid, like Europe, the great unseen Elephant in the room. So thanks for seeing it - but don't just look at its distinctive ears and trunk please - the main bulk is its enormous body and huge legs!
If we're serious about growth and productivity and cost-savings then we have to tackle it head on.
Whilst building all the new Fighter Jets and Solar Panels and Wind Farms that we need, surely our manufacturing base could also start knocking out a gargantuan amount of Air Filters, High UV lights and CO2 monitors and refitting schools and hospitals and producing a shit tonne of proper FFP3/KN95 masks.
Not to mention nabbing all those defunded harassed US Medical Academics to make better sterilising nasal vaccines etc.
Economic boost from the activity and economic boost from the health protections and disease prevention.
People behave as though Covid has gone away. But it hasn’t. I lost a very dear friend of 30 years standing last Sunday. She went into hospital with pneumonia, and then contracted Covid which killed her.
Thanks Ian! A fascinating and thought provoking read delving into areas of Covid and its social effects that I'd not previously considered. I scurried off to watch the BFI National Archive film Dr. Wise on Influenza (1919) mentioned. Again, fascinating. One item especially struck me in the film was the mention of 'Exclusion of fresh air involves retention of germs in deadly strength, several hours later.' And yet, 100 years later the Tory government were ignoring the need for ventilation in school classrooms, for instance 🤬
In 2021, I found that when I was talking about 'last year' I was talking about 2019. It was as if 2020 never happened. In 2020, personally, nothing much did happen. I was shielding for a good part of it. There was almost no social activity except online (we had an online 'pub' which raised alcohol consumption exponentially; there was no 'time'!) It was unreal & I think that contributes to the feeling that 'it's all over'.
Long Covid is definitely playing a part in the benefits budget increase but we won’t know how much because we have stopped counting. My experience is that most medical professionals are sympathetic but not proactive: those of us who are fortunate not to have significant heart or lung damage are discharged from clinics to physio and psychological services. Provided that your physio knows about PEM and you can get EMDR for your trauma and/or relational therapy for your loss and grief, that’s not nothing. There’s no path to healing though. I can no longer work, so much against my will have retired. I was denied my full ill-health benefits however because “covid is a new disease and you might get better”. Doesn’t look like this government would support my application for assistance, so my husband has two full time jobs: one as my carer. How long before that fucks up his health?
I haven’t dared re-read Camus, though my memory of La Peste is of rage, pain and fragility.
This is a good piece. But I’d say it in its own way is interesting from a psychological standpoint in discussing covid as a thing that happened rather than a thing that is happening – and being routinely ignored. We still have massive covid spikes in winter. There are still people unnecessarily dying. And here in the UK, we have a government that pretends covid doesn’t exist and so doesn’t even see fit to routinely vaccinate all but the most vulnerable from a disease that is, at best, fucking horrible.
I’d managed to escape, for the most part. Then, finally, I caught covid last summer. Not sure how. Perhaps a day out at a theme park. In August. I was fortunate in that my sense of smell and taste returned almost entirely intact, but even today, I’m physically still not quite 100%. Others have it far, far worse than I do. They have been forgotten. And people are still catching covid all the time, as if that’s OK, when we have no idea what the future holds regarding its impact.
Obviously, I’m not suggesting we have some kind of permanent lockdown. But I remain absolutely stunned that people don’t mask more on public transport in winter (or by default when ill, to stop spreading their germs), and that we do not at the very least routinely and accessibly provide affordable or free covid boosters, like with flu.
But, hey, we all want to forget. Covid: past tense. Even though it’s never going away.
This. I thought it was going so ewuere very different with the bit about people wanting to forget. My entire family is just so confused all the time, I got long covid, and three of my family members wound up in the hospital and had significant decreases in their quality of life. Two got Dementia.
A good piece otherwise but it hurts to see another writer act like people aren't still being killed and disabled by it. I won't ever have a normal life again, and it has nothing to do with a lack of socialization.
I’m sorry to hear you and your family have had it so tough. And, yes, the past tense narrative is just plain weird. We don’t speak that way about flu. So why do it about covid?
In 2020 they rebranded the 'flu which is why the 'flu almost disappeared from the statistcis to be replaced by COVID 19.
Therefore as the 'flu is typically a winter disease when sunshine levels are low, pollution levels increased and people spend more time indoors, one should not be surprised about massive spikes.
Of course ‘massive spikes’ reminds me of the needles on the syringes administering vaccines. Even I worked out in the 1980's that the 'flu vaccines were pointless as people fell ill anyway. So if you get 'flu and COVID vaccines you are getting a double load of disease causing toxic substances.
Still, big pharma will be happy about it, and they will say that's what really counts.
Thank you for writing this about COVID. As someone who was disabled by the disease, in ways that I keep discovering and no one can help with, it dizzies me how in that erasure we all did we Long COVID people were swept under the carpet. When I mention I have it, people (including myself) visibly look away and mutter and change the subject so quickly. But it's there, and the symptoms affect me every day. There are so many things I can't do anymore--and I feel fairly lucky about the things I can. I've mostly come to terms with it. And yes, when you said about shaking hands and hugging--I still tear up a bit every time I do. Somewhere deep, my soul hasn't forgotten about those years of drought. (Speaking of, it's been too long, let's arrange that dinner soooon) xx
Thanks Gabby x
But he didn’t mention Long Covid. Not once.
Hi, I'm in here: “In 2019, the year before the pandemic, one in 13 people between 16 and 64-years-old claimed disability or incapacity benefits. That figure is now one in ten. The bill came to £48 billion in 2023-24 and will hit almost £76bn by 2030.”
A good number of these are people with long COVID.
The article focuses on mental health effects predominantly as the fallout from Covid. I see what you mean but it’s rather reading between the lines. It needs acknowledging properly, and I’m really disappointed that Ian didn’t mention it by name (search the article – the only direct mention, tellingly, is in the comments). I saw from your comment that you’re a fellow sufferer, I’m sorry you’re going through this too. My best wishes for your recovery.
I just read your thoughtful reply to Ian below, and likewise thank you for writing yours. I'm so sad to read about how LC has wrecked you, and yet, you, like me, say we're the lucky ones. Oh to live through these days, eh? Thank you, and solidarity, and hope you have as many good days (such as they are) as possible🫂
Sending my solidarity too, Simon and Gabby.
Thanks Gabby! I genuinely see myself as lucky, I can still work (WFH) and have supportive family and friends. Seeing what my fellow sufferers are going through breaks my heart though, as does new people joining our support group :o( Hopefully one day there’ll be a way out of this hole for us all. I hope you’re doing Ok and I hope you’re managing to have some better days too! Take care x
Gabs I was thinking of you as I read this. It really changed so many people in ways that are still not being acknowledged and supported as much as they should be.
I thought Covid would bring some lessons, but we have failed to learn some big ones. Did we waste a crisis, destined to suffer just as much next time?
First, it is profoundly disappointing that we have not developed the habit many in Asia have, that when we are sick and out in public, it is a kindness to put on a mask and protect others from the infection we are carrying. No-one should be forced, but setting an expectation that it is a kindness to protect others is a good thing. This is partly a failure to openly acknowledge how many clinically vulnerable, disabled, elderly and immunocompromised people there are, who may not be able to protect themselves effectively just wearing a mask on their face, or cannot wear one. My father went into the hospital last year for treatment (not Covid), and died within weeks from Covid, an infection the hospital gave him. I cannot help but wonder, if all staff wore properly fitted N95 masks, would he still be alive, and why do we tolerate hospitals giving people infections? I sat in the theatre yesterday (Jonathan Bailey is excellent in Richard II at The Bridge theatre) wearing a mask, because I have a vulnerability, and while all those coughing and spluttering around me did not cover their faces.
Second, and related, is why there was no push (as again happened in Asia) for air quality transparency and improvements. If we go to a cinema/school/airport/conference with poor ventilation, we're more likely to get sick than one with a fresh flow of air, and maybe we'll be sick for a few days, but maybe it will cause long-term issues, or worse. Why didn't we mandate venues to display their air quality figures so customers can choose a cinema they're less likely to get sick in?
Third, despite all the evidence, a powerful belief persists that when we catch an infection, we are sick for a couple of weeks, and then back to normal. However, this is often not true, for Covid, and many other viruses, and more often than we might think, the harm is permanent and life-changing. Every time we catch a virus, it is a roll of the dice as to whether we develop a devastating, disabling and lifelong post-viral illness.
Fourth, despite so many people desperately ill with long Covid, research funding is appallingly low and there are effectively no treatments for chronic post-viral illnesses like it. I know a 27-year-old who was very fit with no medical conditions, who caught Covid, and is now, three years later, still bedridden, completely unable to work or see anyone but his partner, leaves bed only for the toilet, cannot leave home except for medical appointments. The worst part he cannot be treated due to horrible stigma around cousin M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) and pitiful research funding in the decades before Covid - we still don't know the mechanism of these illnesses to be able to treat them. His diagnoses are both long Covid and M.E. Pre-Covid, M.E. was often caused by Epstein Barr Virus (EBV, glandular fever) but Covid causes it at much higher rates. The last ONS figures showed 2m with long Covid, without around 500,000 of them severely affected, which will often mean being unable to work or care for children. Around 50% of long Covid meets the diagnostic criteria for M.E. and many of these people are severely disabled, beyond imagining in many cases - they are often the same disease. People with these energy-limiting post-viral illnesses tend to disappear from life, you probably know someone in this situation who quietly slipped away, working less, seeing people less.
We don't need to live in fear of Covid, but we should all be a bit scared of permanent long Covid. It feels like an enormous missed opportunity that we took the path of pretending Covid somehow finished, rather than accepting that the health landscape has changed and making some sensible accommodations to reduce risks and look after each other better because of Covid.
Thank you for writing about this, Ian. I appreciate you not forgetting, which we're all tempted to do. Let's keep those still suffering terribly with long Covid in our thoughts.
Well put Ollie. I think there's been a leadership failure to prepare society for change in general. It's human nature to want to go back to how things were before, but there likely will be another pandemic and climate change will bring new challenges too. There's a balance to be struck between creating permanent anxiety and pretending everything is as it always was.
Ollie, I agree with all your points. I especially remember during the height of the pandemic that were discussions about improving air filtration in public spaces, but have heard nothing since. I am wary of public spaces and will only enter a pub or restaurant when not crowded and is a large space, with either air conditioning or the ability to open a window.
All of the above. 100%. And I suspect much of the attempt to return to a status quo that no longer exists was down to money. But it’s short sighted, because we now have far more long-term sick and fewer workers.
As I said above, the masking thing infuriates me too. It’s such a simple thing. We are supposed to be a country that is quietly polite and thoughtful. Yet last time I was on a train I was surrounded by grown adults coughing and sneezing into the air. Even my 10yo doesn’t do that. I got weird looks because of my mask. But I didn’t get ill. Honestly, with all this it’s the rampant thoughtlessness that gets to me, coupled with the people left in a bad place, which in many cases could have been avoided.
I wish I hadn't read this. I'm usually a fan of your pieces, but it blows my mind that you could write a piece on the fallout from Covid without mentioning Long Covid once. Just once. It's not much to ask. After all, it's the fucking elephant in the room. Talking about the pandemic in the past tense like it's no longer a problem. Jesus.
I'm honestly delighted that you, and most of the rest of society are able to move on, go outside and enjoy life. I often have vivid dreams about going for a walk — a walk! — because I now rely on a wheelchair that I'm too fatigued to be able to self-propel. Like many others (estimated between 1-2 Million in the UK alone) Covid fucked me up, bestowing the three gifts of Fatigue, PEM/PESE and PoTS on me. PEM is the worst — a counterintuitive, little-known snidey little bastard of a condition that makes exercise (even quite gentle, daily living activities that you wouldn't think of as exercise such as going up stairs or taking a shower) exhaust you, for possibly days afterwards. The fatigue isn't tiredness, rather an utter exhaustion that cleans you out, the type of incapacitating tiredness that means you don't have the energy to even roll over in bed.
Those of us part of the collateral damage of Covid are still there, tucked away in our homes and beds, unable to go back to 'normal'; a normal that is now five years in the distance and only getting farther and farther away. Trying to function in our little 'energy envelopes', tentatively nudging the edge of our limits to try to do a little more, then getting hit with a PEM crash when we do. Fuck.
There are days when I wish that the fucking virus had finished its job on me. I'm sick of being in this holding pattern, trying to get by as best I can, still ill but discharged from the Long Covid clinic. Healthcare that you'd imagine was set up to help, but if you're a 'longhauler', there's nothing they can do because you're not getting better, so, like many others I got offloaded by a Teams call, given a Word doc and sent on my way, back to a GP that doesn't understand Long Covid. Ongoing monitoring? Some sort of annual review? Nah.
People are still getting ill and dying from this. I have to take measures to avoid catching it again, like using a FFP mask on the rare occasion I go out, because last time I got it, it took a chunk out of my already limited energy that I didn't get back. Can't do that too many times.
I couldn't help writing this empassioned reply after reading your post. Sufferers like me have been abandoned. We had hope that a change of govt would reach out and help, but it's looking very unlikely from where I'm sitting. We need allies in the media to keep our issue live. We need to be seen and not forgotten about and ignored.
I hope that perhaps one day you could be an ally to our cause.
I'm truly sorry for what's happened to you Simon. This piece was not meant to cover all the different impacts - just these elements that I specifically wanted to talk about. But I get that the combination of long covid's absence and the use of the past tense can seem blase or ignorant. I really hope things improve.
Thank you for taking the time to respond, and for your kind words too — I do appreciate them. And thank you for writing your article. Because I’m confronted by this illness every day, it’s often all I can see. My response was never about me as such; it’s a much bigger issue than one poorly middle-aged northerner. I was trying to share a reality that doesn’t get talked about and the lack of coverage it receives is largely non-existent. Sometimes you just want to give the world a shake!
FWIW, I’m ok — I’m one of the lucky ones, I can still work at least. I’m part of a patient support group that is full of (now ex-) NHS workers who put themselves in harm’s way for the greater good and have now been cast aside, losing their jobs along with their health, keeping the support group going when the funding stopped, always checking in on everyone else. And all quietly slipping away in the background while society marches on.
Thanks for what you do, please keep writing the articles. Maybe one day, you might want to write one on Long Covid ;o)
x
Good on You got we're you've done and what you're doing. I'll endeavour to do that. Thanks again for writing.
I am, today’s (17/3) Guardian has an opinion piece on Long Covid:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/17/long-covid-pandemic-britain-power-lockdown-disease?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
What a classic condescending and passive-aggressive response! Long Covid's absence and the use of the past tense doesn't just *seem* blasé or ignorant. It absolutely 100% *is* blasé and ignorant.
And what a graceless comment yours is.
I'm sorry this has happened to you. Your anger is a fair response to unfairness. I have just passed my 26th anniversary of M.E., caused by an EBV infection, with severe Post-exertional malaise and immobility. One of the hardest things for me about Covid is that the failure to research M.E. and the frankly ridiculous psychologising of an objectively physical illness has meant when Covid arrived masses of people become disabled and there is no treatment. I am sure this is partly because most living with these illnesses are women. Please look after yourself and I probably don't need to say it but don't overexert and risk permanent worsening. It's quite bizarre the government cannot see the sense in investing in long Covid medical research to get more people back to work, off benefits and paying taxes.
Thank you Ollie. I’m so utterly sorry to hear what you’re going through. 26 years?! I’m lost for words. You’re right of course, it’s unconscionable that M.E. has been dismissed and psychologised. I’m sorry to say I knew nothing about it before getting LC. The knowledge for M.E. wasn’t applied early on, and the BPS crowd were (and continue to) push graded exercise and CBT as a way to recover, and receive the lion’s share of the tiny amount of media attention available. I do think sentiment is slowly beginning to change as more high-quality studies become available (such as Rob Wust’s), and it will become more difficult for the psychologisers to keep peddling their rubbish. It’s a national scandal that this has and continues to happen. It is also positive that David Tuller and now George Monbiot are vocal in calling this out. I had hope that the sheer numbers of LC sufferers presenting with M.E.-like symptoms would push government to take it seriously and push serious research funding into treatments, helping all these overlapping illnesses. I do wonder whether some of the reluctance involves compensation for key workers who are no longer able to work because of it. As you say, it’s bizarre that govt isn’t meeting the problem head-on and trying to deal with it as a priority. Even if they are not looking at it in human, empathetic quality-of-life terms (and why wouldn’t you?!) there’s a strong economic argument to address this issue. As a recently-disabled person who is fortunately still able to work (for now), WFH is a lifeline that allows me to work. It’s madness that govt and industry voices are keen to see the end of WFH, too. The knock-on effect will see fewer remote jobs listed and therefore fewer jobs for disabled people who could WFH, but wouldn’t be able to work otherwise.
Unfortunately I found out about PEM the hard way, (I tried to walk a little further every day in an attempt to get better post-infection and inadvertently pushed myself to the point where walking is now very difficult). That was almost three years ago, so I assume it’s now permanent. My own homemade graded exercise without knowing what it was. I just wish that PEM was more widely publicised and understood, to stop new sufferers from falling into this hole. Thank you for flagging it up — It’s too late for me, but hopefully someone reading this might think twice before trying to exercise themselves out of post-Covid fatigue, and read up on Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM/PESE).
Thank you again for your kind words. Take care and best wishes.
I half wonder whether the “just get some CBT” angle is because it’s reliably cheap. Provide a method. Off you go. I’ve had the same from the NHS for tinnitus (“it’s all in your mind”) and an increasingly debilitating digestive disorder. We need more research on long covid. Mostly, moreover, we need a societal shift in thinking about it and also more support.
Oh, for sure. It’s a cheap, simple ‘answer’ to a complex problem, and allows Govt to say ‘we’re doing something’ whilst refusing to tackle the actual problem. A huge problem is the stubbornness of vocal psychologisers (who often get media time to air their views) not to recognise that this is a biological illness; it’s not ‘all in our heads’. Don’t get me wrong, CBT has its place within a range or things that might help some sufferers manage their condition. Another big problem is that often the same people will advocate graded exercise for sufferers, which as I found out to my cost, can make you worse (I tried to exercise my way better, to ‘build myself back up’). They often hide behind the idea of ‘deconditioning’ to push exercise, when in fact pottering around the house and performing daily living activities is a form of light exercise in itself. I now rely on a wheelchair because I struggle to walk 20 metres without needing to sit/lie down to recover (a few days before I got my Covid infection I jogged 4km), if I pushed myself to exercise now I could end up bedbound, in which case deconditioning would be a real problem.
Because Long Covid is an umbrella term, people present with a wide range of differing symptoms, so it’s unlikely there will be a single magic bullet for this condition. My ‘flavour’ of LC seems similar to M.E., for instance. The nature of all this means that we currently don’t have a biomarker for LC, which is convenient straw man for psychologisers to hide behind.
The societal shift is a massive problem, unfortunately. Not only do we have a cabal of vocal psychologisers, we also have conspiracy theorists and a society and media that is largely desperate to forget and ‘move on’ from the pandemic. It massively hurt our cause when it was found that Johnson described LC as ‘BOLLOCKS’ in the acute phase of the pandemic. To have the Prime Minister dismiss the illness set the tone right at the top of government. That’s obviously extreme, but subtly using phrases such as ‘during Covid’ past-tense something that is still a live issue for millions of people. I have heard James O’Brien correct himself before now when talking about it on his show, and explaining why and I’m grateful about that. Mitigations are a problem, too. It also takes courage to stand out by wearing a mask in crowded areas to try and avoid reinfection, so I think many people don’t, and sometimes those that do, still use useless cloth types, rather than FFP3 ones. Again, each part of this has been politically charged. So it’s a bit of a mess, basically. I don’t know what the solution is. I’d like to think that serious research into the biological mechanisms of the condition and treatments is the way out. Once we have more hard science on this, the psychologising will seem even sillier than it currently is, and the noise from these quarters would hopefully die down. But it requires targeted funding to get there. It’s research funding that wouldn’t just target LC, but would also likely help adjacent/overlapping conditions such as M.E., fibromyalgia and many others — it would be money very well spent.
Sorry to hear things are so tough for you. As for “It also takes courage to stand out by wearing a mask in crowded areas to try and avoid reinfection”, I find it baffling that mask use wasn’t normalised for people who are ill, but masks ended up aligned with some kind of dystopia. Insane.
Thanks Craig, I consider myself lucky all things considered 👍 Yes, it’s baffling that mask wearing became politicised. We didn’t learn from SE Asian countries that used them to good effect against Covid. But, not all masks are equal. The cloth type and blue surgical masks with air gaps around the sides that were popular in the early days of the pandemic are next to useless in cutting out airborne viruses; the messaging wasn’t there to promote using FFP2 & 3 grade masks and fitting them correctly (and they weren’t readily available). Conspiracy theorists had a part to play in this too, with deliberate misinformation around effectiveness and pushing the misapprehension that masks work like a sieve, when in reality a static charge helps capture the tiniest particles. There was and still is the huge problem that was highlighted during the last module of the Covid Inquiry, by the stubborn reluctance of key figures to accept that Covid is primarily airborne, rather than droplet-based. It sounds inconsequential but it’s fundamental to how we understand and mitigate spread of the virus, and raises yet more questions about what PPE was considered suitable. I think the train has left the station with regard to masking (although I still do it in situations I consider high-risk, eg. GP surgery/hospital/public transport), I am an outlier, I have first-hand experience of what this virus can do, and I can’t afford to catch it again if I can help it. It seems utterly loopy to me that this and the prev govt didn’t put together a clean air strategy for schools and hospitals where infection and transmission are most likely. Air purifiers such as Corsi-Rosenthal boxes are inexpensive and can be very effective at removing viral particles from the air. This isn’t just about Covid, this also removes other airborne pathogens and pollutants from the air, cheaply and effectively. Sickness absences are a huge problem for schools, so this feels like a no-brainer. To me at least, it feels like not only have we learnt nothing from the last five years, but sadly we’re actively trying to ignore it.
I have also wondered whether the sweeping under the carpet of long covid is due to worry about compensation claims - a sadly familiar issue recently. Perhaps time for a really good documentary on this?
Anna, this opinion piece in the Guardian touches on the economic impact of Long Covid.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/17/long-covid-pandemic-britain-power-lockdown-disease?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Thanks James, I’m glad to see the Guardian has shine a spotlight on this.
Simon, this article (George Monbiot) references the poor medical practices related to ME.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/12/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-me-treatments-social-services
I too was disappointed that Ian did not mention the physical illness Long Covid, so I am pleased to see that he has responded to you. I have had ME for nearly 27 years, the last 12 years bed bound and housebound in total for 17 years, so effectively a 17 year lock down. As we know a main form of Long Covid shares a very similar clinical picture to ME, especially the post exertional symptom exacerbation, and it is so depressing to see much of the medical profession and in turn much of the media minimising and ignoring long covid as they have with ME for decades.
The journalist George Monbiot did an excellent article last year on the medical scandal thot is ME that is now happening to Long Covid too. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree
“You don’t want to get better’: the outdated treatment of ME/CFS patients is a national scandal”.
The Government 3 years ago said they were doing an action plan on ME which is coming out this month, but last month the Government said they are putting no more money towards researching ME. Funding for ME is risible. However, we we have got the disability benefit cuts to look forward to. They really should be funding biomedical research for post infectious illnesses as it would save money in the long term.
Sorry link didn’t work above. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/12/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-me-treatments-social-services
Monbiot also links to a good article on long covid and ME. https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/despite-resistance-policy-makers-push-paradigm-me-cfs-and-long-covid
Thank you Annie, and I’m so very sorry to read about your situation. 27 years of suffering is utterly heartbreaking. I can’t begin to imagine what you’re going through.
Thank you so much for sharing those powerful articles. I’m a big fan of both George Monbiot and David Tuller, we’re lucky to have them on our side. I don’t know if you’ve seen the videos of their discussions from last year, I found them interesting.
https://youtu.be/GC5i3vQ8vSs?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/SpLMB9I4kGI?feature=shared
Solidarity from this LC sufferer. I hope that the paradigm shift away from the damaging, minimising and insulting ‘it’s all in your head’ nonsense happens quickly and fully; and that properly targeted biomedical research funding can open the door to effective treatments for all of us with these related conditions. Wishing you better days ahead.
Thank-you Simon for your kind words. I’m sorry you have Long Covid. Great videos. I’m sorry I am too ill to write further at the moment.
Oh Annie — Please look after yourself and take care 🫂
For me, this will never be forgotten, and the day for me was the 15th March when I started to fall ill from the symptoms that Sunday night. “Beware the Ides of March” was a true foretelling for myself as I spent the next two and half weeks suffering the highest temperature & longest continuous headache in my fifty years of existence. It was all so chaotic in the UK with testing cancelled as I got steadily worse and couldn’t confirm with my employer that I was suffering from Covid-19 original strain!
The government looked totally bereft of ideas and the warning from Italy was totally ignored in that time. I’m convinced that I caught my illness on the London Underground as I worked in Victoria at the time with a daily commute there and we could have avoided that if we had taken proper steps by the end of February. Alas, not to be and I’m so glad you have written this article as it was one of the most significant times in my life & should never be forgotten
I did want to read this. It worried me deeply how the UK muddled through the crisis in an avoidably incompetent way, stopped widely vaccinating so early and stopped providing free test kits so early, and has hardly talked about long covid at all. I think it likely that a substantial proportion of the addition people suffering from disability since the pandemic have long covid rather than mental health issues.
Thank you for talking about vaccination. I find it abhorrent that we no longer vaccinate the majority of the population against covid, knowing full well that it causes long term disability still.
I’m now at the age where my GP surgery hassles me to get a (paid) flu jab. It has never once suggested a covid booster. I think that says it all. (Not that either is terribly accessible locally, and only one of them is affordable.)
Yeah, it's a joke. Sadly covid gave me a life-long, extremely serious autoimmune condition, so now I qualify for both the flu and covid jabs via the NHS. But what a way to qualify.
Covid is still around - we just stopped counting, for all the reasons you imply.
I have a hypothesis on mental health that doesn't counter anything you have suggested but rather adds to it's hellish complexity. Work for a great many people sucked before the pandemic, it has sucked for decades. The suckage levels increased as tech made so many of us 24/7 slaves to our employer's whims. Working for home is presented as a blessing or a luxury for dilettantes but really it just exposes that the leash between many of us and work is ever present.
The pandemic severed that leash to some degree and I suspect may people realised suddenly that they had been existing under a burden of constant low to mid level stress. And they felt relief but they also realised they were a bit broken and the thought of an office filled them with a dread of going back to that ever present sense of crushing stress and despair.
We've allowed work to become horrible. Pay stagnates. The nation is increasingly devoid of entertainments that most of us can afford. And we're told this is all our fault. We have failed and deserve to live this way. And now the party we hoped would save us are instead putting the boot in while the wider world spirals into chaos under the ham fisted guidance of people saner societies would have sectioned long since.
And with all that we're surprised there is a mental health crisis. Covid didn't cause this, it may have increased it, but mostly covid created conditions that exposed what was already there.
Tom, you're onto something here. My experience of Covid chimes with much of what you've written. I've been physically fortunate - spent lockdown obliged to shield because of asthma & COPD, caught Covid very early on & it was pretty bad but I recovered & my health hasn't worsened. But mentally & politically Covid started a process of dissociation from work that, yes, had begun many years before, but which lockdown magnified and accelerated.
Many colleagues in my position simply stayed at home & did nothing. Some positively revelled in their forced inactivity. My work ethic couldn't stomach that, so I worked from home throughout, doing a range of work I don't normally do. I helped my organisation survive lockdown. But when I finally returned to the office, the Great Forgetting had already begun. No-one gave a crap what I'd done. As far as my employer was concerned, I was just 'one of the sickies' who took advantage of their pre-existing health conditions to do fuck all for months on end.
I think the end of lockdown revealed to many people the true nature of their relationships with their employers. Nearly 18 months of dedication working from home meant nothing; all that mattered now was to get bums back on seats. And fewer of them: my employer used lockdown as an opportunity to restructure and slash work teams by over 50 percent, even though they didn't actually suffer any financial loss during the pandemic. I wished I'd sat on my arse, read more books, got more sleep. Turns out my colleagues had the right idea.
Yes, work has become horrible, but we didn't allow it to get that way: it always was. It sucked, like you said, but I feel many of us had swallowed our employer's Kool-Aid about our jobs; we allowed ourselves to believe we were playing a more complex role, one in which our competence and enthusiasm mattered, a lot. Lockdown taught me that was an illusion. It taught 3 million self-employed workers that they don't matter to the government, so they got either less financial support than others, or none. We banged our pots and pans for them but millions of health workers got no pay rise after lockdown, only a very modest one-off payment - and many thousands who didn't work directly for the NHS had to fight for theirs after being left out of the government's calculations.
For me, the leash has loosened. I'm now essentially one of the 'quiet quitters', because I can't believe in work like I used to. It's an extensive, if shallow, psychic wound. What I thought I was FOR, I no longer am, and I believe I am one of millions. It won't make for a revolution, but it won't make for resurgent economic growth either.
I’d hoped that, if nothing else, there would be two way win silver linings from the horrors of covid: routine masking when ill and greater workplace flexibility. Masking is dead. And workplace flexibility is being eroded by the way by projecting management assuming that workers will do nothing unless monitored.
As for the self-employed thing, I’ll never forgive that. Most people have forgotten. Sunak is regularly praised for furlough. One of the things he got right. But initially, every self-employed person and most micro-businesses were exempt. And even when the rules changed, many people got nothing, for a range of reasons.
i'd hoped the masking would stick too, maybe a little like how Japan and others treat it as a sensible precaution but it was doomed when the right wing dickbags turned covid medical advice into another of their moronic culture war issues.
their stupidity comes with a body count and I dearly wish their was some way they could be held accountable for every death.
Your posts are usually a breath of fresh air, but I found this one stifling. For those of us who are immune compromised, the pandemic has never gone away. You’d be surprised how many people are still trying to avoid infection with Covid 19. People of all ages, including parents of vulnerable children. We have been thrown under a bus by government policies, both Conservative and Labour.
My husband and I are in our seventies, and both have cancer; I have to take lifelong chemotherapy medication. We are just trying to enjoy our last years (or however long we’ve got) together, while supporting each other and our children and grandchildren. In avoiding Covid, we’re not just trying to avoid death – we’re also very conscious of the effect that infection and its consequences would have on our ability to stay independent. Our social lives have been hugely curtailed, now mostly taking place online, and I had to give up self-employment. We wear masks everywhere we go. Our trips out are predominantly medical appointments, which we approach with trepidation as all mitigations have been dropped, even for vaccination clinics aimed at elderly and vulnerable people. We get gaslit by medical staff: my husband was recently told by a GP that he didn’t need to wear a mask in the surgery, as she was vaccinated and without symptoms! No mention of all the ill people who had been breathing in the unventilated space all morning.
People are still catching Covid in hospital. People are still dying of Covid – not so many as previously, but still dying. People are still suffering from Long Covid, and/or a multiplicity of organ damage, brain damage, damage to their immune systems. Could some of the increase in mental illness be a direct result of brain damage from Covid?
For me, staying alive and as well as I possibly can is an act of subversion, cocking a snook at those who think I am a waste of space and resources. Boris Johnson’s war cry – “let the bodies pile high” – still resounds. The callousness and complacency of the last few years shows no sign of abating.
And we’re still brewing new variants: https://open.substack.com/pub/christinapagel/p/current-covid-situation-in-uk-and?r=2042b1&utm_medium=ios
Thank you for bothering to put down in words (even when you didn't want to) exactly what I've been noticing and feeling. And I'd never thought to notice how the Spanish flu had a similar 'blank' effect but that's totally spot on. We don't want to think about the existential threat of bacteria and viruses....and the reality is, we need to because otherwise we're walking blindly into an abyss with virtual reality goggles on and sweet music playing in our AirPods. Keep writing what we don't want to read Mr Dunt!
Working through the whole pandemic, taking care of military kids in a daycare, and never shutting down, made my experience so different. It was scary and yet you were numb and still had to function and be there 100% for the littles.
I remember coming in through the garage, shedding all my clothes directly into the washer and heading to the shower, not allowing my 3 year old to touch me until after.. she was home with her Dad all day while I worked, and this little thing broke my heart on the daily
Thanks for this thoughtful and humane piece, Ian. I can see you've addressed this in replies to others, but I too thought it was very telling that in the midst of such a reflective and empathetic piece, there was no mention of long covid, and that you were writing as though covid was a thing of the past, rather than something many of us are still living with every day. I understand that, for exactly the reasons that you state in the post: people don't want to think about that period of time, so it's psychologically easy to ignore those of us who are still suffering.
But the public and media silence about covid is reflected in the government's and health service's complete lack of interest in dealing with long covid - and the latter is really, really shocking. Like one of your other reply-ees, I've been discharged from the local long covid clinic (which I think has since shut), not because I'm better, but because they have no idea how to help me.
Luckily I'm doing a lot better than many people. I've found ways to manage the condition, my Pots is a thing of the past and the PEM is much much better. But I'm still living with it, and very much part of the statistics you quote about people too sick to work.
So I very much hope that we as a nation can come to terms with covid. I agree with pretty much everything you say. But we also need to acknowledge it's a present-tense event as well as a past-tense one.
Robert, government silence is covered in this article
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/17/long-covid-pandemic-britain-power-lockdown-disease?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Thanks Ian.
A lot of that labelled "mental health" will include the "Covid Brain Fog" (aka brain damage) and ME-style post-viral fatigue will likewise be put under "anxiety" "exhaustion" etc. These are physical.
"Mental health" terminology also tends towards the fallout from the stress of the pandemic and the lockdown etc (as well as the societal consequences), as you so brilliantly describe.
But we mustn't let that obscure the bigger issue of the Virus itself. Especially Viral Persistence (in addition to post-viral damage).
Covid fucks the immune system. People get sicker and for longer. And it keeps coming back in newer forms.
Healthcare settings are unsafe for many so people get sicker if they attend and sicker if they don't attend.
Work absence up. Productivity down. Brain fog. Constant "colds" and exhaustion (and ensuing low level "mental health" misery).
Not to mention those not in any stats, and not currently claiming any benefits, who continue to work, but who will get knackered sooner (esp Teachers and HC workers), or the young with compromised bodies. A lot still to come down the track.
Covid, like Europe, the great unseen Elephant in the room. So thanks for seeing it - but don't just look at its distinctive ears and trunk please - the main bulk is its enormous body and huge legs!
If we're serious about growth and productivity and cost-savings then we have to tackle it head on.
Whilst building all the new Fighter Jets and Solar Panels and Wind Farms that we need, surely our manufacturing base could also start knocking out a gargantuan amount of Air Filters, High UV lights and CO2 monitors and refitting schools and hospitals and producing a shit tonne of proper FFP3/KN95 masks.
Not to mention nabbing all those defunded harassed US Medical Academics to make better sterilising nasal vaccines etc.
Economic boost from the activity and economic boost from the health protections and disease prevention.
People behave as though Covid has gone away. But it hasn’t. I lost a very dear friend of 30 years standing last Sunday. She went into hospital with pneumonia, and then contracted Covid which killed her.
Thanks Ian! A fascinating and thought provoking read delving into areas of Covid and its social effects that I'd not previously considered. I scurried off to watch the BFI National Archive film Dr. Wise on Influenza (1919) mentioned. Again, fascinating. One item especially struck me in the film was the mention of 'Exclusion of fresh air involves retention of germs in deadly strength, several hours later.' And yet, 100 years later the Tory government were ignoring the need for ventilation in school classrooms, for instance 🤬
Great article, Ian!
In 2021, I found that when I was talking about 'last year' I was talking about 2019. It was as if 2020 never happened. In 2020, personally, nothing much did happen. I was shielding for a good part of it. There was almost no social activity except online (we had an online 'pub' which raised alcohol consumption exponentially; there was no 'time'!) It was unreal & I think that contributes to the feeling that 'it's all over'.
Long Covid is definitely playing a part in the benefits budget increase but we won’t know how much because we have stopped counting. My experience is that most medical professionals are sympathetic but not proactive: those of us who are fortunate not to have significant heart or lung damage are discharged from clinics to physio and psychological services. Provided that your physio knows about PEM and you can get EMDR for your trauma and/or relational therapy for your loss and grief, that’s not nothing. There’s no path to healing though. I can no longer work, so much against my will have retired. I was denied my full ill-health benefits however because “covid is a new disease and you might get better”. Doesn’t look like this government would support my application for assistance, so my husband has two full time jobs: one as my carer. How long before that fucks up his health?
I haven’t dared re-read Camus, though my memory of La Peste is of rage, pain and fragility.