evidence: This was published 6 months ago ‘Long COVID’ doesn’t exist as we know it, according to new research Long COVID is indistinguishable from other post-viral syndromes and the term should be ditched, say researchers who found similar rates of long-term impairment between people who caught COVID-19 and those who were sick from other respiratory illnesses. [...] The researchers concluded there was no evidence that a COVID-19 infection made impairment more likely. Gerrard said long COVID appeared to be a severe and distinct disease simply because of the huge number of infections during the pandemic.