Why Long Covid needs more attention – beyond cute headlines
We are not impressed with the headline in the NZ Herald on 18 August 2025: Higher taxes, deeper spending cuts inevitable as economy suffers from long Covid.
Using ‘Long Covid’ as a metaphor to intimate that the current problems with the economy stem from 2020 diminishes the lived experiences of the many New Zealanders who live with this condition. Would it be acceptable to compare other health conditions, such as cancer or heart disease, with the economy in this way?
While the human cost of Long Covid sadly mirrors the economic crisis, it crucially differs from the economy in some major ways: Long Covid is barely talked about publicly, lacks any political or policy attention ,was excluded from Phase two of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the official response to Covid-19; and attracts hardly any government funding for research.
We would love to see Long Covid in more media headlines. However, headlines that use this term should be attached to news articles that actually focus on Long Covid.
Long Covid warrants much more airtime
A Public Health Communication Centre briefing in September 2024 highlighted estimates that Long Covid is costing the New Zealand economy at least $2 billion per year in lost worker productivity alone, adding that robust local studies are urgently needed to quantify the true cost.
Yet New Zealand journalists and politicians consistently omit the ‘long tail’ of ongoing debilitating conditions that stem from Covid cases. Conservative estimates of the number of people in New Zealand with Long Covid are upwards of 250,000 people. A global expert consensus on Long Covid (2025) warns that following acute Covid-19, the risk of developing symptoms that last beyond the initial illness is estimated to be 15% per individual per infection. The risks include the probability of sudden death and ‘silent’ cell or organ damage.
New Zealanders with Long Covid are not getting the support they need. A Long Covid report from Auckland University in May 2025 states that there is considerable unmet clinical need among people with Long Covid in this country, with wide-ranging impacts on individuals, whānau, employment, healthcare burden, and the welfare state.
Many people with Long Covid have a lower health-related quality of life than people with some advanced cancers. Fatigue, brain-fog and sleep issues are commonly reported symptoms, as well as breathlessness, muscle and joint pain, headaches, chest pain, and an irregular heartbeat. These symptoms cause significant clinical impairment. People with Long Covid also report significant psychological distress.
As well as impacting health, the impact to hours worked and financial status is significant. Experts have recommended that Long Covid be recognised as a disability in New Zealand to enable sufferers to access the support they need.
New Zealand does not recognise Covid-19 as an occupational disease. Many countries around the world have, including 17 countries in the European Union. Peru’s High Court has recognised it as an occupational disease for all workers, not just healthcare workers.
This country urgently needs to respond to the Long Covid crisis, not publish headlines that trivialise it.