More than 7,000 Tipperary people suffer from Long Covid

Based on a survey by Ireland Thinks, there are 230,559 people in Ireland suffering with conditions associated with long Covid and 36,889 of these people are impacted a lot in their daily activities.

These figures include 7,203 Tipperary long Covid sufferers, while 1,152 have had significant impacts in their daily lives.
These figures are taken from the self-declared incidence of long Covid in Ireland, based on a survey carried out by leading polling company, Ireland Thinks, which was commissioned by Independent TD Denis Naughten.

“The reality is that such a large number of long Covid patients presenting to our hospitals with complex health conditions at a time when the system is already overwhelmed, could lead to the collapse of health service,” stated Deputy Naughten.

“We cannot just sleepwalk into a crisis of chronic illness, which will push people waiting on treatments since before the pandemic even further down already horrendous waiting lists.

This is the first exploratory survey of its kind to be conducted in Ireland, and offers a stark perspective on the community prevalence of long Covid, which does not currently have a defined treatment pathway.

Deputy Naughten called for long Covid to be recognised as an occupational hazard for frontline workers and urged the Government to treat patients presenting with ongoing symptoms with the same urgency as the initial wave of infections.

The polling data shows that:
*Up to% of adults in Ireland have self-reported symptoms of long Covidin excess of 12 weeks, with a further 3% of adults self-reporting the onset of symptoms for less than 12 weeks.
*Long Covid symptoms impact a lot on daily activities of 16% of people with long Covid with a further 63% stating that the symptoms are having some impact on their daily lives.

Commenting on the survey results, Denis Naughten said: “The findings show the need to urgently address the care requirements of those who are suffering with this illness. While the mechanism behind the disease has yet to be fully defined, given the proportion of the population in Ireland living with long Covid, it is imperative that evidence-based treatment pathways be explored as a priority.

“The Lancet paper published last summer described long Covid as ‘the next public health disaster in the making’, which clearly indicates that Government must now treat this illness and the patients with it as a matter of the utmost priority,” said Mr Naughten.