commentary

Editor’s letter: Fight Long COVID denial by becoming a Supporter of The Sick Times

Commentary

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By

Heather Hogan

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July 3, 2026

Before I started working at The Sick Times as your friendly neighborhood engagement editor, I let every medical professional I met bulldoze me.
I worked in homeless services for years. It didn’t help me find accessible housing when I got Long COVID.

Commentary, Policy & Advocacy

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By

Rachel Litchman

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June 26, 2026

The 1988 amendments to the Fair Housing Act were supposed to address inaccessibility in housing by requiring buildings constructed after 1991 to meet certain accessibility requirements. In practice, however, less than 1% of the nation’s housing stock was fully wheelchair accessible as of 2022, most of it financially out of reach to people with disabilities,…
The U.K.’s plan for ME has failed us. Members of parliament must step up.

Commentary, International, Policy & Advocacy

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By

Nick Benton

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June 19, 2026

No ring-fenced research funding. No care pathway for the very severe. Hospitalized patients still at risk of malnutrition. What has the delivery plan really changed for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis in the United Kingdom?
We must free Long COVID and the people living with it from the mind-body trap

Commentary

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By

Todd Davenport

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June 12, 2026

There is a recurring pattern in the history of medicine that still pops up from time to time. When our understanding of a disease lags far behind the need for explanations, biology becomes a matter of one’s own perception. This inevitably shifts the burden of proof back onto the people we should be helping; those…
Research ethics boards need urgent training on Long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis

Commentary

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By

Simon Spichak

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June 2, 2026

Last year, researchers in Ontario, Canada started recruiting participants for a Long COVID trial testing the feasibility of exercise and rehabilitation. Like many other studies of exercise, it doesn’t use validated measures for post-exertional malaise (PEM). But the Pursuing Reduction in Fatigue After COVID-19 via Exercise and Rehabilitation (PREFACER) study, run by researchers at Western…
We need masks in healthcare. Now.

Commentary, Health

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By

Tesla Bellina-Gustafson

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April 24, 2026

As a person with Long COVID, losing consciousness was a terrifying experience made worse by a potential exposure risk. I quickly put my mask back on and thankfully managed to escape unscathed. But this experience reinforced how much power healthcare providers have over those in their care.
Marcia: Life with severe ME is like screaming into the void

Commentary

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By

Marcia Doherty

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March 20, 2026

Begging for my life on the internet, staying alive month to month on donations from strangers, attempting to get a foothold of logic in policies and ways of thinking that are entrenched in illogical bias: these rob hope of its strength. And when you’re approved for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) on quality of life, despair is…
A new aid in the doctor’s office: Introducing the Long COVID Treatment Guide

Commentary, Health

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By

sick times

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March 12, 2026

Too often, people with Long COVID hear that since clinical research is still underway, not much can be done for them at this point. We at the Patient-Led Research Collaborative and RTHM Clinic reject this narrative. We collaborated to create a treatment guide.
My child and I both have Long COVID. Even in COVID-aware spaces, we are excluded because of their pre-existing disability.

Commentary

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By

eZme Fern

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March 7, 2026

I watch through the window as the seasons change, spring to summer. The heat permeates, the neighbor kids run and play. Sprinklers soaking their bodies as they dance in glee. My ten-year-old child, J, sits stimming, gleefully twisting at the waist from side to side, as their hair blows in the breeze, trying to sign.…
How to write an op-ed about Long COVID

Commentary

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By

Miles W. Griffis

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February 24, 2026

Op-eds, sometimes known as opinion or commentary, have been powerful in raising awareness and providing solutions for Long COVID, from early reports of the disease to calls to action that have inspired legislation.