While most people with COVID-19 get better after a few days to a few weeks after infection, the CDC suggests post-COVID-19 conditions generally appear four weeks after infection. Common symptoms include fatigue, anxiety, and — at times — other symptoms harder to explain. Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid describes her current bout with post-COVID-19 and its unknown mental health effects:

I feel awful. I had Covid about a month ago and am still experiencing some of the aftereffects — mostly lethargy — but I can’t really blame how I’m feeling on the virus because I wasn’t exactly feeling sparkly and vivacious beforehand. And I’m typically a pretty energetic person so the fact that for the past few years all I’ve wanted to do was sleep — it merits notice. 

I’m not alone here. I would say that 80% of my friends and family to whom I’ve mentioned this sort of extended malaise are feeling similarly.

They’re depressed, or overwhelmed, by seemingly small things. They’re deeply, deeply anxious. And the feeling doesn’t seem to be going away.

Of course it’s not just the grownups feeling the mental weight of years of lockdowns, economic insecurity, fears for the physical and mental well being of themselves and others, not to mention everything else from racial injustice to global instability to the never-ending procession of school shootings.

Our children have also been subjected to what amounts to an extended social experiment with unknown outcomes. 

The pandemic has had an unquestionably massive effect on virtually everyone, whether they fell ill themselves or suffered the loss of a loved one, or lost their job or “just” suffered through the depression and anxiety that comes with all of this. But the mental health implications long-term of Covid — they remain a mystery. 

Generally speaking, the pandemic has been tied to worsening psychiatric symptoms. The World Health Organization, for example, reported a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide.