Seems like people are just arguing over what to name an amorphous phenomenon, not whether the phenomenon is real.

Ten to thirty percent of people diagnosed with Covid exhibit a range of symptoms months or even years after the virus is no longer detected in them using conventional tests. This isn’t so different from other autoimmune disorders known to follow viral infections of other kinds.

I agree with the author that the science of how the body responds to Covid infection shouldn’t be muddled by politics. That caused a tragedy in the case of AIDS.

But I also don’t think it’s helpful to talk about something like long Covid in terms of “identity.” Covid’s post infection sequelae vary a good deal from one person to another. Saying that long Covid could be the basis of an identity doesnt just confuse a range of symptoms that demand different treatment regimens. It’s also a form of politicization.