The Health Risk Monitoring and Anticipation Committee (Covars) observed shortcomings in the treatment of long-term Covid and called for a restructuring of the care pathway system in France.
- Long Covid or post-Covid syndrome refers to the persistence of symptoms beyond four weeks after infection.
- In a notice addressed to the government, Covars warned of “insufficient care with a chaotic care pathway” for long Covid.
- In France, several hundred thousand people are affected by long Covid.
It is estimated that one in ten people develop prolonged symptoms of Covid-19, according to the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm). However, in his last reportthe Health Risk Monitoring and Anticipation Committee (Covars) noted that “France has not sufficiently taken stock of the reality of post-Covid syndrome (SPC) [ndlr ou Covid long].”
Insufficient management of post-Covid syndrome
We speak of long Covid when symptoms persist beyond four weeks after infection. This prolonged form of the disease has often been contested. This opinion from Covars therefore tends to re-establish the organic reality of the post-Covid syndrome.
First observation from Covars: treatment of long Covid “is insufficient with a chaotic care pathway” while several hundred thousand people suffer from persistent signs. The organization observed in particular “a lack of clarity of the offer, great geographical heterogeneity, an often insufficient level of knowledge of health professionals, and a tendency to psychiatrize symptoms, in a general context of medical shortage”. For this advisory organization, “It is therefore essential that political decision-makers, health authorities and caregivers become aware of this problem.”
Long Covid: the need to strengthen and restructure the healthcare system
Taking the example of neighboring and Anglo-Saxon countries, which have “more satisfactory” care, Covars called for a strengthening and restructuring of the post-Covid syndrome care system, to be addressed “from the more general angle of post-infectious syndromes”. In his opinion sent to the government at the beginning of the week, he notably recommended the development “adapted, funded and sustainable sectors, to ensure in particular multidisciplinary, clinical, physical, psychological and social care.”
Post-Covid syndrome refers to the persistence of lasting after-effects several weeks or even months after infection with the coronavirus. The manifestations are different from one patient to another and of unequal intensity. Among the most common symptoms, we find: fatigue, respiratory signs (shortness of breath without effort, persistent cough, etc.), chest pain, headaches, skin problems, digestive disorders or even abnormalities of the senses (partial loss or total taste and smell).
