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Accepted Paper:
Long Covid: competing temporalities of an emerging pandemic
Lesley Branagan
(Hamburg University)
Long Covid (currently estimated at 65 million people) has been dubbed “an emerging pandemic” or a ‘mass disabling event’ with enduring consequences. How can a pandemic’s long tail be considered the beginning of a new pandemic? What tensions are created between the competing temporalities of patient advocacy groups, biomedical researchers, and government policy makers?
Paper long abstract:
As recognition of Long Covid builds in medical science, governments and lay populations, public sphere commentary has suggested that Long Covid – currently estimated at 65million people suffering worldwide - might be “an emerging pandemic” or a ‘mass disabling event’ with enduring consequences.
Frustrated by the lack of answers, treatments and responses offered by biomedical science and governments, Long Covid patients have formed advocacy groups that urge constructive actions in a timely manner to address this unforeseen aspect of the Covid pandemic.
How can the long tail of an existing pandemic be considered the beginning of a new pandemic? How can the experiences of Long Covid patients and advocacy groups assist in anticipating this ‘next’ pandemic? What kind of tensions are created between competing temporalities: the long waits for treatment in Long Covid clinics; patient groups’ sense of urgency for governments to act; and the slower pace of medical research and governments to provide ‘answers’ and responses. How can previous epidemics (for example, HIV) inform the temporalities of different stakeholder groups, as they act towards securing a future ‘well’ world in a time of medical uncertainties, rapidly-changing configurations and intense debates?