"Long COVID Is Being Forgotten"

This is a very well-written article,  written by someone who is a Long COVID patient herself.

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As Hantavirus and Ebola Cases Rise, Long COVID Is Being Forgotten

Alison Stine, Nonprofit Quarterly, May 29, 2026

"It was when a self-described science podcaster used the phrase “post-COVID” in a social media graphic that I had to speak up. I don’t normally comment on businesses’ or strangers’ posts, but the use of such a biased, unscientific phrase motivated me to post a comment in protest.

“Post-COVID” is a woefully inaccurate term. While, in the current moment, we are no longer at the peak of COVID—often defined as extreme waves of deaths and hospitalizations—we do not and will never live in a “post-COVID” world. People are still being impacted by this disease, including becoming permanently disabled and contracting new cases.

"The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 12,284 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 from April 6 to May 3, 2026. In the previous 28-day period, 27,615 new cases were reported. According to WHO, five countries in the Americas, Europe, and Southeast Asia all had increases in new cases greater than 10 percent.

"In addition to COVID, we live in a world facing increasing rates of multiple infectious diseases mutating, in large part due to climate change and habitat loss, and diseases stretching into new areas where they had previously been unreported.

"The latest examples of this are the Andes strain of hantavirus, with a cluster of cases coming from a Dutch-flagged cruise ship in May, and Ebola, with new cases confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in a rapidly escalating outbreak.

"News of both viruses raced through social media, with many posts fear-mongering or spreading inaccurate information. Repeatedly, I read the phrase “I can’t do another pandemic,” implying the poster could not bear to get vaccines, stay inside, socially distance, or wear a mask.

"For those of us living with Long COVID, such comments are beyond frustrating. The reason we have post-COVID syndrome is because not enough people cared to do a pandemic and follow medical guidance the first time around, including getting vaccinated and boosted and wearing masks—community care our community should still be doing.

"Even as other viruses that pose less of a threat to the public in the United States have spikes in cases, COVID is still with us and continues to be a mass-disabling event. Ignoring or minimizing COVID contributes to delays in diagnosis or care and causes the mental health of people living with Long COVID to suffer. It also does not prepare us for facing newly emerging or more widely spreading diseases.

“I Am Still Not the Same As I Was” 

"I’m one of the about 18 million people worldwide diagnosed with Long COVID. It is estimated that the real number of people with Long COVID is actually much higher, but many people have not been officially diagnosed, either due to not understanding or refusing to believe their symptoms, or because they don’t have access to care.

"I was diagnosed with Long COVID following one COVID infection in February 2023.

"That’s similar to the experience of Luke (who is using a pseudonym to protect his identity) in Minnesota. Luke was a college student at his “dream school” when he contracted COVID as a sophomore. Eventually, the illness, which included sudden joint pain so severe he couldn’t stand up for longer than a minute, forced him to drop out of school and move home.

“The first doctor I spoke with diagnosed me with post-viral arthritis as a result of my COVID-19 infection, and I struggled to believe that the mild virus that cleared up weeks ago could be doing this to me,” Luke said in an interview with NPQ.

"Other Long COVID symptoms he experienced included extreme fatigue, so much he was sleeping 12 hours a day without a dent in his exhaustion, and brain fog that impacted his ability to speak coherently.

"My own symptoms have also been fatigue and cognitive issues, including a daily headache that lasted three years before I was given an additional diagnosis of neural inflammation and put on a treatment plan. Luke and I are fortunate in that we both happen to live near two of the last remaining medical clinics devoted to the research and treatment of Long COVID. But these clinics are disappearing every day, due to funding cuts.

"As Luke said, “I am still not the same as I was before Long COVID, and I may never be. I am hopeful that more treatment options will emerge down the line with further research, but as of right now, Long COVID has sidetracked my life, and been permanently disabling to me and many others.”

“Most People Stopped Caring”

"For those still very much living in the reality of COVID and the long-term aftermath of even one infection, news of spiking cases of hantavirus and Ebola have been received with resignation. It is not easy to trust that people will do the right thing when it comes to community care.

"Writer Stephanie King said in an interview with NPQ: “I have zero confidence that people will take appropriate precautions against hantavirus because COVID has shown that we don’t really believe in public health anymore.”

"King hasn’t been diagnosed with Long COVID, but she does have recurring shingles infections after getting COVID while she was running a GED program in North Philadelphia, PA. Even a single COVID infection has been linked to new health problems developing after recovery. These can include, according to Harvard Health, “heart attacks, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, inflammation…and blood clots that traveled to [patients’] lungs.”

"As Luke told NPQ, “First and foremost, I’m horrified that public health has been so thoroughly politicized in America that it’s affecting the safety of the rest of the world. The cuts to USAID have already cost lives, and I fear that many Americans won’t realize what’s been lost until the consequences reach their doorstep.”