COVID-19

Among the current generation of kids, many are growing up with their mother or father confined to bed or confined to bed themselves. According to a study by ANU, long COVID is hitting up to an estimated 20% of Australians three months after they contracted COVID — mostly women, but also men and children. In the current COVID wave, that means a lot of people coming down sick for a long time.

Long COVID is keeping people from their jobs and their lives, and as COVID cases continue, it is unclear whether the rate of new long COVID cases is increasing faster than the old cases recover.

I had heard of the life-altering fatigue of long Covid, which turned doing the dishes into a marathon requiring several breaks and a nap. I didn’t know, however, that the illness would trigger in me a painful allergic reaction to sunshine, or trigeminal neuralgia (imagine wearing an electric fishnet as a mask), or the dozen other bizarre symptoms that left me feeling as if an essential screw holding me together had come loose.

I became housebound overnight. I was 37. Loving your partner “in sickness” sounds noble, romantic even. In reality, it’s gut wrenching.