We don’t really talk about it anymore, but the coronavirus is still there. It can even become serious for people with long Covid, including children: they must then fight not to be infected again.
Claudia Schumm is the mother of two teenagers. The youngest contracted Covid-19 in February 2021 and remained ill for a long time. He did not recover until the summer of 2024. This experience encouraged the communications advisor to commit to children and young people with long Covid. She founded the patient group “Long Covid Kids Switzerland”.
She quickly noticed that the affected families shared the same concerns: where to find medical help? What to do if the child can no longer follow classes at school?” These families felt lost and abandoned and this is still the case today,” she says.
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It is difficult to quantify the problem of long Covid, because current data is lacking in Switzerland. In the United States, population-based studies show that 1.3% of American children experienced symptoms of long Covid as of 2020, according to an article recently published in the journal “Science”.
The coronavirus variants currently circulating can also trigger cases of long Covid. The number of newly diagnosed cases is decreasing, but we must remain vigilant, explains pediatrician and medical ethicist Jürg Streuli: “There is an increase in the number of cases of chronic fatigue syndrome, perhaps in its most serious form .” In this form, and especially with so many people affected, it is unheard of in pediatrics.
A constant cycle of illness
Children with a severe and prolonged form of long Covid face two major problems. First, there is the risk of reinfection when they return to school. Claudia Schummer describes the situation as follows: “They reach the next wave of Covid and they get sick again.” This process then leads children into a permanent cycle of illness and deterioration in their health.
However, reinfection is a lesser evil, believes pediatrician Jürg Streuli. The excessive demands of school life are much more serious: “If, as with other infections, we simply return them to face-to-face teaching and warn them to continue as usual, then we are harming children.” It’s only in the last few months that we’ve really understood this.
A feeling of abandonment
Claudia Schumm deplores the lack of knowledge and understanding of many pediatricians regarding long Covid. They often assume that children have a psychological problem because they are on edge. Many families feel abandoned. “There is a lack of solutions for schooling and caring for these children in everyday life.”
Jürg Streuli agrees. But there is no miracle cure. What families need is caring support, such as that offered by the Health Compass Foundation. “Each child and each family must be examined individually and a careful diagnosis made – only then can treatment be recommended,” explains Jürg Streuli. It is important not to rush and take the wrong direction, but to “give parents the space and time to find their way in the new normal of long Covid”.
Irene Dietschi (SRF)
