Streamed on Thursday, February 10, 12:00 – 1:00 pm PST
There is currently a strong push from governments towards a narrative that Omicron is “mild” and bringing us to an end of this pandemic. As such, this warrants dropping most layers of protection and “living with COVID”. However, this storyline side-steps a key issue - that of Long COVID.
In BC, politicians and public health officials have consistently ignored or downplayed Long COVID and its impacts on individuals, their families, the health care system and the economy. It is, as Mike Mariani from The Guardian termed it, “the great gaslighting”.
And yet, according to the latest BC ECHO for Post-COVID-19 Recovery session, 10% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 will develop Long COVID, with persistent symptoms after 4 weeks. This translates into tens of thousands of people affected in BC alone. This is why Dr. Anne Bhéreur, Montreal family physician and herself a Long COVID sufferer, emphasizes that “we have to come out of the dichotomy of death or recovery from COVID. There is an in between condition which disables millions of people of all ages worldwide, including kids. And yet, Long COVID still has not become part of the pandemic equation. This is unbelievable”.
With further lifting of protections against COVID-19 set to be announced by the BC government for the upcoming Family Day, we need to ask, “Is Long COVID a societal harm that we are willing to accept?”
Join Protect our Province BC for our in-depth briefing on Long COVID. Dr. Anne Bhéreur speaks of her own experience with Long Covid, which started for her back in December 2020, and reviews some of the most recent research on the short and long term impacts of this condition. Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, internal medicine specialist and clinical epidemiologist from the UK, further discusses challenges in Long COVID research, and in particular touch on Long COVID in children. The discussion is facilitated by Dr. Karina Zeidler, Family Physician and co-founder of Protect our Province BC.
Speakers:
Dr. Anne Bhéreur, M.D. Palliative Care & Family Physician, Associate Clinical Professor, University of Montreal
Dr. Deepti Gurdasani Clinical Epidemiologist and Senior Lecturer in Machine Learning, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
Dr. Karina Zeidler, Family Physician & Clinical Instructor, UBC Faculty of Medicine
