Long Covid

Five years later, there are millions of families whose realities have been irrevocably, tragically shattered by Covid. The pain and loss will never go away. But for the rest of us, Covid has largely receded — in 2025 it means, at least for most people, a nasty cough, a bad headache, and then back to life.

But has it really faded? The masks are gone, the lockdowns a memory, but give it some more thought and you’ll find that Covid hasn’t fully left.

Covid turned a niggling suspicion of authority into a veritable wave of distrust.

Doctors rued the “Dr. Google” trend for years before Covid — the patient who arrived for an appointment armed with his own Internet research, self-declared diagnosis, and treatment recommendation. That patient saw himself as almost equal to the doctor; maybe he couldn’t write the actual prescription, but he wasn’t interested in any patronizing professional telling him he didn’t know his own body.