When Deborah Shaffer tried to return to work two weeks after her Covid-19 infection, she looked at which floor of the veteran’s hospital she was working on. It was one of the many strange expressions of the brain fog that has affected social care in Wichita, Canada, since he contracted the virus in November last year.
Mrs. Shaffer is a long-carrying Covid, a person who suffers from chronic symptoms weeks or months after the initial infection. After her failed attempts to return to the hospital, she has not worked a full day since she became ill and has no idea if or when she will return in person.
“I’m a trained therapist and clinical social worker, but I can’t perform even the most basic tasks before me,” says 52-year-old Shaffer. He recently started working from home, although he has not yet pursued an eight-hour day.
It is not easy for Covid long carriers to return to work. Scientists are just beginning to understand the mysteries of the chronic Covid, also called the long Covid or post-acute Covid. It can lead to various symptoms after the initial infection, including severe fatigue, cognitive problems, digestive problems, irregular heartbeat, headaches, dizziness and fluctuating blood pressure.
It is not clear exactly how many people suffer from long-term symptoms. But studies suggest that it is a significant part of the more than 107 million people with confirmed cases worldwide. About 26% of 1,733 Chinese Covid patients discharged from a hospital in Wuhan between January and May 2020 still experienced fatigue six months after the acute infection, according to a study published in the Lancet in January.