evidence: The study by Queensland Health researchers suggests that in the highly vaccinated population of Queensland exposed to the omicron variant, long COVID's impact on the health system is likely to stem from the sheer number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 within a short period of time rather than the severity of long COVID symptoms or functional impairment. [...] To understand more about the impact of long COVID on the Australian state of Queensland, researchers surveyed 5,112 symptomatic individuals aged 18 years and older, comprising those with PCR-confirmed infection for COVID-19 (2,399 adults) and those who were PCR negative for COVID-19 (2,713 adults: 995 influenza positive and 1,718 PCR negative for both but symptomatic with a respiratory illness) between 29 May and 25 June 2022. [...] "In health systems with highly vaccinated populations, long COVID may have appeared to be a distinct and severe illness because of high volumes of COVID-19 cases during the pandemic. However, we found that the rates of ongoing symptoms and functional impairment are indistinguishable from other post-viral illnesses," says Dr. John Gerrard, Queensland's Chief Health Officer.