Guernsey 'long Covid' group seeks members to show scale of illness

Long Covid symptoms include extreme fatigue, breathlessness, palpitations, and brain fog

People in Guernsey suffering with "long Covid" should join a support group to show the government how many cases there are, its founder says.

There is no formal clinic for those suffering from after-effects of the virus, so the group was set up in 2022.

Founder Tamara O'Brien said more people joining would mean the States would see the situation's scale.

Health bosses said the services of a Jersey GP specialist were being used to run long Covid clinics locally.

Symptoms include extreme fatigue, breathlessness, palpitations, and brain fog.

'Down this road'

It is unknown exactly how many in the bailiwick have the condition, but Ms O'Brien said it was more than the government thought.

She said: "We've been down this road before - there was [a clinic] for a short amount of time, but not enough people came forward.

"The more people come forward to say "yes, this has gone on a while", the more the States can understand that it's not just a few people."

Guernsey medical director Dr Peter Rabey said the local treatment advice for long Covid was to visit a GP.

He said: "Most cases are managed in primary care, with appropriate input from therapists. GPs can also refer to secondary care doctors as appropriate.

"Long Covid is an emerging area of healthcare as we are continually learning about the virus and its long-term impact."

Leaders of a British study into the condition have said that in many cases the condition could be debilitating, interfere with work, family life and socialising.

They also estimated that about 1.9m people in the UK and more than 144m globally lived with the condition and almost a quarter of sufferers had symptoms for more than two years.

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