We are told not to worry about breakthrough cases because they are ‘mild’ – but long Covid is anything but mild
On 1 May, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped tracking breakthrough infections that did not lead to hospitalization or death. Its rationale was to “maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance”, making the continued assumption that non-hospitalized Covid cases are not important but “mild”: without complications, manageable at home, where patients fully recover in two weeks.
I have dealt with persistent symptoms for 17 months – an illness now called “long Covid” – and not collecting data based on this assumption is an enormous mistake, one that has persisted throughout the pandemic and has severe consequences moving forward.
