evidence: From: European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious DiseasesLong COVID ‘indistinguishable’ from other post-viral syndromes a year after infection · Authors say it is time to stop using terms like ‘long COVID’ as they wrongly imply there is something unique and exceptional about longer term symptoms associated with the virus · Comparison with influenza and other respiratory illnesses in Australian state of Queensland during Omicron wave finds no evidence of worse post-viral symptoms or functional impairment a year after infection. [...] The study by Queensland Health researchers suggests that in the highly vaccinated population of Queensland exposed to the Omicron variant [1], 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. [...] "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. "These findings underscore the importance of comparing post-COVID-19 outcomes with those following other respiratory infections, and of further research into post-viral syndromes."