(Atlantic)
Before I got long COVID, I tuned out virtually all stories about it. They were tedious because I was tired of the pandemic, because we are all tired of the pandemic, because it is as familiar as rain and honestly just as dreary; I can hardly believe we once called the coronavirus novel.
Today, I still tune out most long-COVID stories, though for different reasons. (Busman’s holiday. I outsource the job to my family.) But millions of us suffer from long COVID (“the pandemic after the pandemic,” as a Washington Post editorial put it last week), so today I’d like to discuss … etiquette. That’s right: manners. I’d like to offer a civilian’s guide to navigating the sensitivities of those furious, frustrated, irritable millions—and to better understanding them.
The fact is, no one—including doctors (especially doctors, dear God, these doctors)—knows the right things to say to those of us who have long COVID, because no one seems to be thinking about this wretched condition in the right way. Nor does anyone seem to understand the unique psychological suffering associated with this condition. It’s hideous—arguably worse than some of the very worst of our physical symptoms. Which, let’s face it, are already pretty grim.