Long Covid and the Blind Spots of American Medicine
One of the most frightening, least understood aspects of the coronavirus pandemic is what\u2019s come to be known as \u201clong Covid.\u201d Stories abound of young, healthy adults who experienced mild or asymptomatic coronavirus infections and recovered fairly quickly, only to experience an onset of debilitating symptoms weeks or even months later. One major study of almost two million Covid patients in the United States found that nearly a quarter sought medical treatment for new conditions one month or more after their initial infection.\n\nScientists still don\u2019t fully understand what\u2019s causing long Covid or how to best treat it. But in that sense, long Covid isn\u2019t all that novel. Today, millions of Americans suffer from chronic illnesses set off by the body\u2019s response to infections. Many of these conditions routinely go undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed. And even those who find their conditions identified correctly often struggle to find treatments that work for them.\n\n\u201cTo have a poorly understood disease,\u201d writes Meghan O\u2019Rourke, \u201cis to be brought up against every flaw in the U.S. health care system; to collide with the structural problems of a late-capitalist society that values productivity more than health; and to confront the philosophical problem of conveying an experience that lacks an accepted framework.\u201d\n\nO\u2019Rourke, an award-winning journalist and poet and the editor of The Yale Review, has spent more than a decade of her life struggling with chronic illness, a journey she documents in her forthcoming book, \u201cThe Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness.\u201d In it, O\u2019Rourke uses her experience to illuminate the facets of American society that often remain invisible to the rest of us: the blind spots in our scientific and medical paradigms, the shortcomings of our individualistic ethos, the way economic inequalities show up in our bodies, our culture\u2019s tendency to pathologize suffering.\n\nSo this conversation begins with long Covid and the debates surrounding it, which O\u2019Rourke has done excellent reporting and writing on. But it is also about what it\u2019s like to experience America\u2019s hidden chronic illness epidemic firsthand, and what that epidemic reveals about the society that too often pretends it doesn\u2019t exist.\n\nMentioned:\n\n\u201cLong-Haulers Are Fighting for Their Future\u201d by Ed Yong\n\n\u201cLyme Disease Is Baffling, Even to Experts\u201d by Meghan O\u2019Rourke\n\n\u201cUnlocking the Mysteries of Long Covid\u201d by Meghan O\u2019Rourke\n\nThe Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery by Ross Douthat\n\nBook Recommendations:\n\nThe Journal of a Disappointed Man by W.N.P. Barbellion\n\nOn Immunity by Eula Biss\n\nThe Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde\n\nThis episode is guest-hosted by Ross Douthat, a New York Times columnist whose work focuses on politics, conservatism, religion and, more recently, chronic illness. He is also the author of numerous books, including \u201cThe Deep Places\u201d and \u201cThe Decadent Society.\u201d You can read his work here and follow him on Twitter @DouthatNYT (Learn more about the other guest hosts during Ezra\u2019s parental leave here.)\n\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of "The Ezra Klein Show" at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\n\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\n\n\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d is produced by Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rog\xe9 Karma; fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker and Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld, audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Special thanks to Kristin Lin.