Impacts of living with persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms
| Type of impact | Representative quotations |
|---|---|
| Family unit | “It definitely affects … your life with your family because they see me struggling. It’s very hard to remain positive, but every day I try to put on a bright face, to try to not make my family worry. It’s just the mental toll’s been tremendous.” (F2) “So you don’t say anything to them, and you don’t want them to be worried and feel like they have to jump.” (F7) |
| Spouse | “When I was off, my wife took on 2 other jobs after her full-time job to make up the downfall or the shortfall of the money that we weren’t bringing in … it’s affecting my wife and her health and the health care system for her because eventually, she’s gonna burn out.” (F1) |
| Children | “I notice a lot of change in my 7-year-old because it’s just kind of her normal now that Mom’s in bed a lot and Mom can’t come … just don’t know how is that gonna affect them in a couple of years when a big chunk of their childhood, Mom’s just been sick.” (F1) |
| Friends | “You’re bombarding your family, your friends with how you feel all the time.” (F1) |
| Family activities | “I’ve been robbed of being the mother that I want to be. And as well, the wife. We don’t have energy to go out on dates. If I can get out of bed and go to activities and do a little bit of meal prepping, that’s a big day for me. So, it’s really impacted my family a lot.” (F1) |
| Finances | “There’s gotta be something for us that have suffered and been through it and lost salary and credit cards are maxed out and you’ve borrowed money from your parents or you’ve borrowed money from here and you’re looking at doing something to take a high interest loan out just to pay the bills.” (F3) |
| Employment | “I’d go home just exhausted and I’d be useless the next day, because it just would wear me out, and I mean, it’s not physical work, it was the mental. It can be very stressful work.” (F9) “I’ve been off from work for 2 years now. Fortunately, I have a really good disability plan through my company, and they’ve been very understanding.” (F6) “How do I go back to work as a nurse when I have good days, bad days, and I don’t see them coming?” (F1) |
| Function | “I live out on an acreage, so I’m by myself. I have to haul bales, I have to haul water … it’s very physical work, where it used to be a piece of cake for me … now, it’s a huge, huge effort.” (F9) “I haven’t driven hardly at all for the last 2 years and I have driven all over North America. Put me in a car that’s my happy place, and now I do not trust myself to drive.” (F6) |