It is a huge contrast to five years ago. At the start of the COVID pandemic, people suddenly started to look out for each other much more. “There was a great sense of solidarity,” says Matthies-Boon. “Neighbours checked on each other, we took vulnerable people into account. But what often happens is that solidarity declines the longer a crisis lasts. As social support decreased, the Dutch government eventually opted for a COVID policy incorporating individual responsibility. And that created a politics of indifference and a breakdown of mutual understanding. Another consequence of choosing individual responsibility was that our government didn’t launch a campaign informing the public about Long COVID, despite much already being known about the medical effects at that time. That decision has perpetuated the lack of understanding for this condition.”
Matthies-Boon sees another reason for the distrust aimed at Long COVID patients. “The pandemic confronted us with the fragility of life. There was a group of people who didn’t want to face that fragility. They radicalised, particularly with respect to COVID sufferers. As a result, patients with Long COVID were increasingly regarded as being too fearful of the virus, making themselves ill with their own thoughts.” This psychologisation of post-viral diseases is not new, says Matthies-Boon. “Since the 1970s and 1980s, it has been increasingly claimed that people are pretending to be ill and that it is important to rid them of these false illusions. However, that view completely overlooks the objective immunological processes involved in both Long COVID and other post-acute infection syndromes.”
