A Talanoa LIVE - LONG COVID

A yarn LIVE w/ Ryan 'The Lion' Ashton

LONG COVID - Aotearoa only really started to hear about this at the 1pm briefings recently, when Dr Bloomfield acknowledged that 37% of Covid patients will experience some kind of longer term symptoms. Much of the NZ MOH response has been on the race towards 90% vaccination so we can roam free... The thing is, while our risks are greatly minimised with vaccination, "1 jab keeps you out of hospital, 2 jabs keeps you out of ICU...but what's the deal with Long Covid? We'll speak with Jenene Crossan, (and possibly her # 1 supporter Scottie Chapman) the 37th Kiwi to get Covid "the original strain" back in March 2020, and who suffered from Long Covid for more than 18 months. The long term impacts after a constellation of multi-factory symptoms is still unknown, but the group of people suffering from this is growing by the day. Jenene has collaborated with Dr Anna Brooks of The University of Auckland to look at Long Covid and the impact on our immune cells, a unique study that is well positioned in Aotearoa due to the low levels of Covid thus far. There are now over 1000 Kiwis suffering from Long Covid and the prospect of this growing exponentially, particularly in areas where inequity exist, it’s critical that we really look under the hood and get a handle on this impact this can have on our communities, our whanau, our economy and health system. We have asked one of the key patient advocates, Jenene, to share about it to educate and make us aware of what's happening and why it’s important.