Taking long COVID seriously

I fear that a long battle for recognition is looming on the horizon for children and young people with long COVID, and their families/carers.

As I write, children and young people are at 10 Downing Street to deliver letters pleading with the Prime Minister to do more to support patients with long COVID and to agree to changes in policy to better recognise this debilitating condition.

According to the Office for National Statistics (Office for National Statistics, 2022) there are around 119 000 children and young people living with long COVID. Of this number, around 21 000 still have symptoms 12 months after their initial infection. As ever with these kinds of statistics, the true numbers will be higher. And yet, a cursory sweep of social media will tell us just how many long COVID deniers there are out there.

The charity Long Covid Kids is behind the visit to Downing Street and has just published ‘Shining a light on long COVID in children’, a guide for families and all those working with children (see pages 62 and 98).