Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have been contacted by several young women who have been affected and deeply impacted by long Covid. I will recount the story of a woman named Karen who contacted me. She is 36 years of age and a front-line worker who tested positive on 31 December. She was admitted to the Mater Hospital on 8 January and had to be put on an oxygen machine because she had double pneumonia. Although she recovered from Covid in April, she was referred to the respiratory post-Covid clinic at which she was seen by a range of consultants. Other people who contacted me do not work in the public sector but have had an equally difficult experience. Karen returned to work in late April but relapsed seven weeks afterwards and was forced to go on sick leave and has remained on it. She suffers from headaches, chronic fatigue, dizziness, bad brain fog, breathlessness, high heart rate, palpitations and a lack of energy and she is always tired as a result of long Covid. We need action for people such as Karen.

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