Words by Mouth Breather
The World Health Organization lists over 200 symptoms for long Covid, with the most obvious ones being fatigue, breathing problems, and brain fog. But we're now learning that it affects entire organ systems, leading to issues like diabetes, autoimmunity, and reproductive problems—just to name a couple of the totally-not-terrifying side effects. Despite this, the New Zealand government still seems reluctant to fully acknowledge long Covid. There remains no dedicated funding for research, and the long Covid registry was initiated by independent researchers, not government officials.
I first got Covid in 2021 after the initial overseas wave. I was boosted, wore masks in public, and followed all the rules, but I worked in hospitality, where it was difficult to avoid exposure. A few weeks before the virus swept through the workplace, I was in the unlucky middle group to catch it. By the end, only a handful of staff were left managing a venue that held over 200 people. But I wasn’t struggling at work; instead, I was in bed, writhing with chest pain so severe that the woman on Healthline thought I was having a heart attack (lol).
Spoiler: I wasn’t. However, I did endure two miserable hospital visits in as many days. First, I was awkwardly fenced off behind a cone in the main area of the emergency room, having to announce my symptoms to anyone within earshot. The second time, they housed me in a bubble within the children’s section of the hospital, surrounded by other people coughing, clutching their chests, and presumably feeling just as miserable as I was. I’m grateful I didn’t need to use the bathroom, because that would’ve required my Covid-ridden self to shuffle out and awkwardly ask for help.
The chest pain took about a month to subside, and my workplace kindly gave me an extra week off to recover. But it lingered. Even now, almost four years later, if I overexert myself—pushing myself at work, or walking home too quickly—the pain returns, sharp and jabbing. I’ve grown used to it.
Since then, I’ve had Covid three times. I chalk it up to two factors: 1) continuing to work in large-scale hospitality, and 2) my body’s immune system was wrecked by the first infection. Now, even though I’m boosted, Covid still wipes me out. And it’s not just Covid. Any cold takes me longer to recover, cuts and bruises heal slowly, and when I got an infection a few years ago, it took over a month to recover from that, too.
Despite all this, I’d still consider myself one of the luckier ones. I can (mostly) rely on walking around the city. My sense of taste is slowly coming back, though everything tastes sweeter now, to the point where chocolate is overwhelming. My sense of smell is creeping back, but I’m not convinced it’ll ever fully recover. I know several people who haven’t been as fortunate. They can’t walk for more than a few minutes without getting out of breath, they’re constantly fatigued, and brain fog makes it hard for them to work or study.
The most frustrating part of all this is that the government still doesn’t take it seriously. I’ve been lucky that my GP has been supportive and believed my symptoms, but with limited research and resources, there’s not much she can do beyond offering generic advice: rest, don’t overexert yourself, and maybe take the bus instead of walking (RIP half-price fares for students).
There’s more information about long Covid today than there was a year ago, and much more than two years ago, but what we’re learning is increasingly worrying. What do you mean long Covid might be causing nerve damage? Is that what the chest pain is? Sadly, answers are still in short supply.
I wish this column could provide better advice, but it’s more of a reflection on my experience and a reminder that Covid is still having a massive impact on many of us. Over 200,000 Kiwis are registered in the long Covid registry. We’re out here—just mostly struggling in silence.
Long Covid isn’t something that just fades away after the virus is gone. It’s a chronic, often debilitating condition that many people, including myself, continue to deal with every day. It’s time the government took it seriously, funding research and providing real support for the thousands of Kiwis who are quietly battling its ongoing effects. Covid might be out of the headlines, but for many, it’s far from over.