A medical staff member studies a patient’s MRI in the Covid-19 intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, on December 10. | Go Nakamura/Getty Images

Long Covid “is a phenomenon that is really quite real and quite extensive,” Anthony Fauci said earlier this month.

When Heather-Elizabeth Brown spiked a fever in April in Detroit, the only reason she was able to get a coronavirus test was because she was volunteering as a police chaplain and was therefore considered an essential worker. Her results came back negative, and she was relieved. But then, she says, “I just got sicker and sicker.”

After being turned away from overcrowded ERs twice, Brown was eventually admitted on her third try. She finally tested positive, and by that point, she was severely ill. She was put on a ventilator and spent