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Blogs by Ashiff Jivraj
Long Haulers “The Forgotten” Covid 19 + 3/18/2021 9:33:03 PM
Long Haulers from Covid 19, PTSD from trauma – first responders and others. crime victims, and accident victims. We hear on the news of people suffering from post Covid 19 ailments and they call these people Long Haulers. But Long Haulers should include those that suffer from PTSD from trauma. When we think of PTSD we think immediately of medical staff and first responders but there are others that suffer from mental stress from other scenarios. Other examples: when there had been a robbery in a home and the homeowners feel violated and become stressed and disturbed even while in their own home; scams; when violence or abuse is hurled at a loved one or a member of a community; these people are traumatized by feeling fear of their environment.
Crime victims suffer mental and physical long-term problems. They need a lot of therapy to get better but adverse symptoms can last a lifetime.
The victims of accidents are sometimes the overlooked Long Haulers. They get insurance payouts that are no match for the long term mental and physical problems they go through. Others may not even be lucky enough to be covered by insurance.
There are more Long Haulers than I mentioned here. Examples are people that suffer from adverse medical treatments or medications, victims of sexual abuse, and trafficking.
The mental and physical ailments that Long Haulers suffer manifest themselves in so many different ways; being disabled to work, loss of some or all income, loss of medical insurances, mental illnesses including depression, loss of mobility, social isolation, body aches and pains, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, sleeplessness, nightmares, addictions, etc.
Long Haulers may become “The Forgotten” over time by governments and society in general. Governments are supposed to be for the people. Empathy seems to only last for a short time before focus goes back to normal society. Long Haulers didn’t choose to be the way they are. They were for the most part employees and employers paying taxes for society’s good. The loss of these people is a great loss to government coffers and a significant expense to the health care systems. Let’s not forget the innocents who suffer for a lifetime. Being a Long Hauler is a bigger loss to their self worth, pride, health, life, etc.
If we don’t take care for Long Haulers it says a lot about our society in general. Many don’t even care about our seniors. Working people are too busy working to make a living depending on every pay check to live adequately.
What can be done?
(1) Long Haulers need to be brought to political attention just as recent necessary issues have been brought to the forefront. Governments need to make major adjustments: Health and mental health systems and their easy free accessibilities need to a priority for those that need them.
(2) Criminal justice reform is necessary for criminals that suffer from additions, food and housing depravity, and mental issues that need treatment instead of incarcerations (the general public should not end up being Long Haulers because of crime). Hate crimes, sexual assault and trafficking need to be addressed more seriously and quickly. Deliberate misinformation should also be treated as a criminal offence and much more seriously.
(3) Accountability has to be part of accident outcomes (driving bans, significant insurance premium increases, realistic compensation and long-term treatments for victims, serious criminal charges for irresponsible drivers, corporate executives and professional malpractice rather than hiding behind lawyers.
(4) Paying at least a living wage so working people have less stress and the opportunity to enjoy some leisure time and look after the Long Haulers, seniors and other medically challenged people they know.
These are just a few things that could be done by government action for a start for Long Haulers.
If you read one of my earlier blogs you can see how most global governments have failed their citizens. So many people didn’t need to suffer or die from Covid 19 if only there had been a global approach and response to fighting this horrible virus. It should have been collectively fought like it was an alien species invading Earth. The way was to have a few months of complete isolation, except for essential governmental personnel, medical personnel, first responders, food and medicine providers, followed up by treating identified clusters. Specific levels of payments to all citizens in lieu of income would have allowed this isolation to succeed. If no-one was infected after that term nobody could get infected. Hundreds of thousand of lives would have been saved.
The cost governments are paying for not doing the right thing when they knew there was a pandemic is enormous. We have no idea how much money is being paid for vaccines, the costs (monetary and otherwise) of death and suffering had been enormous, variants of the virus still may haunt us all, public debt is so much higher than it needed to be, prolonged isolation and virus fatigue has added to societal stress. There are many more societal, national and international issues than I have mentioned due to Covid 19.
Hopefully the vaccines work and don’t have long term issues and don’t need to be administered yearly. I hope those that become part of the Long Haulers because of Covid 19 don’t end up being “The Forgotten.”
