Alex Berenson | Substack: The term “long Covid” should be dropped from use, because Covid has no more aftereffects than the flu or other mild respiratory illnesses, according to a major new study from Australia released yesterday. 

The study showed that only 3 percent of people who had Covid had “moderate-to-severe” aftereffects a year later - numerically fewer than those infected with influenza or other mild respiratory diseases.

The term "long COVID" wrongly implies there is something unique and exceptional about longer term symptoms associated with this virus. Click to Tweet

Researchers surveyed 5,112 Australians who had been infected with Covid, flu, or other respiratory illnesses. The study adds to similar work suggesting that - except for the tiny handful of people who require ventilators or intensive hospital care - nearly everyone who gets Covid recovers completely from it within months.

The study’s full findings will be presented at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in late April. 

“We believe it is time to stop using terms like ‘long COVID,’” the study’s lead author, Dr. John Gerrard, said in a press release. “They wrongly imply there is something unique and exceptional about longer term symptoms associated with this virus. This terminology can cause unnecessary fear, and in some cases, hypervigilance to longer symptoms that can impede recovery.”

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