Our community came together to start International Long COVID Awareness Day in 2023. Here’s how you can get involved this year.

March 15, 2025 marks the third annual observance of Long COVID Awareness Day. Efforts organized around the day educate the public on Long COVID, and put pressure on governments, policymakers, public health officials, and healthcare workers to take action on the disease. 

Back in 2023, I started International Long Covid Awareness (ILCA), a grassroots community-based advocacy movement to push alongside each other globally for the needs of the community. After conducting polls from my couch about what day, month, and colors the community would like to see for Long COVID awareness in moments where I had enough strength to get online, we set International Long COVID Awareness Day as March 15 and Month as March. It was incredible to see everyone come together and unite so quickly in our first year! 

ILCA’s goal since 2023 is to unite efforts for Long COVID awareness around the globe. That means telling the truth about the lasting impact of COVID-19, sharing our stories about living with Long COVID, and advocating for preventions, education, policy change, and treatments. Over the past few years, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Scotland, Australia, Mexico, and many others have joined together to help bring attention on International Long COVID Awareness Day.

Hundreds of millions of people all around the world have been suffering long-term impacts of their SARS-CoV-2 infections. Without mitigations like masking and clean air in most places, more people are being infected and developing Long COVID. And there is still no cure or treatments approved for Long COVID, though researchers are zeroing in on potential theories for the disease’s causes, including viral persistence.  

For this reason, the community selected the slogan “Cure Long COVID Now” for the 2025 International Long COVID Awareness campaign. The slogan is a call to action to make any available therapeutics equitable and accessible to those living with Long COVID. 

ILCA is advocating for more research into promising treatments recommended by top researchers, like monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), antivirals, immunotherapies, and viral RNA targeting. While more clinical trials — especially combination trials studying multiple treatments at once — are needed to help researchers find the best possible treatments and potential cures, doctors must have some way to start treating patients now. 

As the Trump administration changes begin to take shape in the U.S., we must keep pushing for Long COVID treatments as well as for COVID-19 preventions, care, funding, and social assistance. Without approved treatments, some people with Long COVID are trying medications and supplements without guidance from doctors, because many aren’t receiving proper care.

We have the right to good medical care, treatments, and research. Thousands of people have already lost their lives to Long COVID, both because of the disease itself and also to suicide due to the painful misery and suffering experienced by those with Long COVID. 

The time to act is now!

ILCA is also calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to fast-track medications for Long COVID so we can get coverage approval with insurance companies. Those with Long COVID must be given equitable access to any available therapeutics now. No one should be unable to receive possible treatments due to red tape or the cost. Biomarker testing might help with this process.

Tomorrow, on International Long COVID Awareness Day, ILCA is organizing a social media action to unite the community in solidarity with the U.K.-based organization Long Covid Support. They will reveal their Long COVID banner, a collective art project made by people with Long COVID. We are asking people with Long COVID, their loved ones, and allies to share photos of fabric and textiles they’ve decorated with messages about Long COVID.

International Long COVID Awareness is about sparking conversations around the globe and connecting people, which will hopefully lead to actions and make a tangible difference in the lives of those who are impacted by this horrific virus.

There are many opportunities to get involved on Long COVID Awareness Day/Week through events and actions taking place around the world.

Some of the key events and actions include:

• Public demonstrations in: Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto, Quebec City, Vancouver (Canada), the U.K., Istres, Toulouse (France), Bilbao (Spain), Brussels (Belgium), Berlin (Germany), and many others.
   
• Some buildings and monuments will be lit up in teal to shine a light on International Long COVID Awareness Day. These include Penshaw Monument (England), Niagara Falls (Canada/US), Pennsylvania State Capital (U.S), Camden Yards Sports Complex in Baltimore (U.S.), and many other sites around the world.
   
• Other groups are also organizing Spaces on X and virtual events. ILCA will be speaking in a Space tomorrow with special guests, speaking about coping with Long COVID, research, and support for the community. Others are sharing our Long COVID stories, readings, interviews, Painted Rocks, postcards, and more with the community.
   
• For more events this month, check out COVID Longhaulers Podcast Substack and the 2025 International Long COVID Awareness Calendar.

Get involved however you can! Those who are sick with Long COVID and all our allies must unite! Unite to get our lives back! Unite to get our children’s lives back! Unite to protect people’s health all around the world!

Angela Laffin is the founder of International Long Covid Awareness.

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