Over 90,000 still severely suffering from long-term Covid symptoms

Tens of thousands of people are still suffering from long-term health problems after an infection of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The approach to helping these people must be improved, said the Social Impact Team (MIT). The group of advisors told the Cabinet that there should be more knowledge about long-term Covid-19 symptoms and that they should have better access to more services, including healthcare and education.

It is estimated that 90,000 residents of the Netherlands are severely limited by long-lasting symptoms of the coronavirus disease. They encounter barriers and incomprehension, said the MIT in their long-awaited advice, which was released on Monday. The team called the complaints "disruptive" both for physical and mental health, but also for an individual’s household, family life, social life and work.

The MIT was set up last summer to produce advice on the broad social and economic impact of any new measures to tackle an epidemic or pandemic in the future. On Monday morning, MIT Chair Jolande Sap handed over the advice to Social Affairs Minister Karien van Gennip. Sap referred to all of the “harrowing stories" about people who are severely limited by long-term Covid symptoms.

In conversations with patients, the MIT saw "a great deal of mistrust, indignation and anger" at the Cabinet’s action and inaction during and following the pandemic. They should be listened to more often when planning and implementing policy, according to the MIT.

The medical and social knowledge about long-term Covid-19 must also be improved, the MIT stated. The team called the 32 million euros that Health Minister Ernst Kuipers announced for research into long-term Covid a starting point.

It is unclear exactly how many people actually have long-term Covid in the Netherlands. Sap has said before that registration of the cases of long-term Covid would prove to be very valuable. This would create a representative picture of the size of the group and the extent of their complaints.

Kuipers told the Tweede Kamer in May that registration is difficult because there is no clear definition of the disease. Registering them all would also take a long time, because it concerns a great many people. Moreover, GPs would then have to take on the task on top if their already busy work. He is therefore against registration.

In order to nevertheless be able to estimate the number of patients with long-term Covid, MIT looked at a study from the United Kingdom and applied it to the Dutch situation. It is estimated that a total of about 1.3 million Dutch people had long-term Covid-19, but usually with relatively mild complaints.