Please join us for the POP BC live briefing on Long COVID: A Mass Disabling Event on Wednesday, October 30th at 1 pm as we discuss the important topic of Long COVID with Kayli Jamieson and Connie Chan, Long COVID survivors, and Dr. Ric Arseneau, Internal Medicine Specialist and Long COVID Physician and Director of one of the only Long COVID clinics in BC.

Dr. Mona Nemer, the Chief Science Advisor of Canada, has called COVID a mass disabling event with now 1 in 5 Canadian adults having developed Long COVID after an infection with SARS- C0V-2 and over 100,000 adults in Canada unable to return to work due to PCC, with an additional 600,000 people having reported missing school or work for an average length of 24 days. 

The July 2024  study by Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly on the Postacute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the Pre-Delta, Delta, and Omicron Era found that the rate of Long COVID has decreased from the 10.4%  of adults in 2020 with the ancestral strain to 7.7% in unvaccinated adults and 3.5% of vaccinated adults in 2022 after Omicron. But even at 3.5% this could mean millions of people having Long COVID.

And  if we factor in the millions of new Long COVID cases with re-infection, the number of people  potentially disabled with Long COVID is staggering.

Long COVID survivor and registered nurse, Connie Chan had this to say:

"It all comes down to breathing like you aren't suffocating, and barely getting by each activity of daily living like that's the only thing you can do for the day...or two...or three. And all the while having to prove to everyone else that it's real and that you're sick. Everything else in your life comes second (or indefinitely postponed), that is, if your brain fog allows you to remember or focus."

"It's like a neverending roller coaster, both physically and mentally - you have good days that lead you to think you're "better" or even "recovered", then you come crashing down."

Long COVID survivor and master's candidate, Kayli Jamieson, had this to say:

"When I walk one block at a slight incline, my heart rate shoots to 178bpm. I was a previously healthy 23-year-old." 
"Because of the Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM), it would take me several days to recover from going out or doing any social activity. Leaving the house became a Very Big Deal."

Dr Ric Arseneau, internal medicine specialist and director of one of the Long COVID clinics in BC said: “Don’t fall into the trap of ‘COVID amnesia’ – COVID is far from over.”

“The government decision to not purchase the Novavax this season is unfortunate. For patients with Long COVID, it is better tolerated than the mRNA vaccines. Many of my patients are driving to Bellingham to get vaccinated.”