As yet, long covid has no cure.What scientists know so far about the disease points to it being a combination of a persistent viral infection (for which a drug may be found at some point),a chronic autoimmune disorder (which would need expensive, complex care like that for rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis)and lingering damage to some tissues caused by the original covid-19 infection.Medicines for the first two of these causes may ultimately be found.America alone has put $1.15bn into research.At the moment, though, sufferers need months of rehabilitation to help them cope.Health-care systems and employers must prepare to assist long-covid sufferers,including those who have no proof of past infection because they were not able to be tested.Prompt rehabilitative care can prevent a downward spiral in personal health and finances.Dedicated long-covid clinics will speed things up.As things now stand, patients often bounce from one specialist to another in search of a diagnosis.Employers, for their part, must rethink how to accommodate workers with a disability that flares up in unpredictable bouts.
