Host of symptoms, variable recovery times complicate return to work for those with long COVID – CBC
Employees and employers often left in limbo, not knowing if someone can work from day to day
Feb 02, 2022
Jessica Sewell has been on and off work since she developed long COVID last June, fighting the disease’s symptoms, which she describes as “volatile.”
“I can be OK today and able to do my job, but I get a cold and I have a two-week flare-up,” said Sewell, 28, an administrative assistant in Burnaby, B.C.
Sewell contracted COVID-19 last May, and was very sick, but said she felt well enough to return to work after her 14-day isolation. Three weeks later, she began to experience brain fog, dizzy spells, extreme fatigue and tremors. Her heart rate would shoot up to 200 beats per minute, even while standing still.
Sewell was assessed at a long COVID clinic in July. In the weeks leading up to her diagnosis, she tried to keep working because taking time off felt like “defeat,” she said.
But, “the more you push, the more [long COVID] pushes back, and it always wins,” she said.
