Commentary
-
How volunteering to become a lab rat paid off
When I signed up for a clinical trial, I expected it to be thought provoking at best and onerous at worst. I didn’t expect it to change my life.
-
COVID-19 triggered a life-threatening pulmonary embolism that led to long-term lung damage. It took two ER trips before doctors believed me.
It started with chest pain. I woke up in the middle of the night and realized I couldn’t take a deep breath. I immediately pulled up the internet to search my symptoms. It turns out, anything with the search terms “chest pain” and “trouble breathing” leads to the same advice: go straight to the emergency room…
-
Letter to the editors: The University of Washington’s Long COVID clinic
In February, The Sick Times published a story highlighting how educating primary care doctors about Long COVID could help address some of the challenges people face in finding healthcare for the disease. The story focused on the University of Washington (UW)’s Long COVID clinic as an example of a center working to train doctors, and…
-
Missives from the dismissed: Still COVIDing without community
Combining my experience building COVID-safe communities online and interviews with over a dozen COVID-cautious people who are “still COVIDing” despite a lack of community, family, and/or peer support, I learned that many are stuck in situations that make living a normal life difficult or impossible because of widespread COVID-19 denial. This essay is a collection…
-
A timely book of poetry chronicles a mother — and her daughters’ — experience with Long COVID
Breath / is not something / anyone would dare / to hold right now, / even for luck, Ann E. Wallace wrote on the 33rd day of her acute COVID-19 case, during the first wave of the pandemic in spring 2020. Half a decade later, breathing still doesn’t come easy for the Poet Laureate Emeritus…
-
An international emergency task force is urgently needed for Severe Long COVID and ME crisis cases
Without one, Severe advocates are putting themselves at risk. It’s time for advocacy organizations to step up. Writer’s note: In this essay, I deliberately capitalize different categories of ME in order to give each the weight and dignity they deserve. I also choose to distinguish between the Sick and the Well to highlight our status…
-
The history of ME deserves a late-night spotlight. That’s why we started the #JohnVsJonVsME campaign.
In a crisis-filled world, breaking through the noise requires creativity, strategy — and, occasionally, a really good meme. This is precisely why the #JohnVsJonVsME campaign began.
-
Long COVID data are being erased, again
The lack of comprehensive Long COVID case counts may be considered one of public health’s greatest failures. But as we enter the sixth year of this ongoing pandemic, U.S. institutions are sweeping this mass disabling event under the rug perhaps more than ever before. We can’t let them get away with it.
-
A serendipitous friendship taught me my greatest lesson in living with Long COVID: How to just be
It’s difficult for me to tell people about Long COVID because it’s impossible for them to understand how someone who looks so “normal” can be so sick. Most of the time, I don’t say anything. But something about Bianca’s warmth made me feel like I could. Little did I know, meeting her would lead me…
-
The sick soft butch who did: How confronting a racist in my neighborhood helped me claim my Long COVID identity
The last thing I thought before I smashed, face first, into the New York City sidewalk, was, Dang, my wife’s going to want me to start taking my cane with me everywhere I go. But mostly, I was worried one of my neighbors would watch me tumble over and go limp.
Follow Us
get the latest long covid news
Trending
Recent ARTICLES
Tags
advocacy arts CDC clinical trials commentary COVID-19 precautions disability essay government policy H5N1 healthcare HHS influenza international Long COVID in children masks and respirators ME ME/CFS medical education national COVID-19 trends NIH NIH RECOVER podcast public health research update science Trump administration updates and events vaccines wastewater surveillance