two years in, and people are reflecting on their lives and the future. “the broader groundswell around the freedom convoy may have touched a bit of a nerve, that we’re getting a bit more vocal about things we’re not happy seeing going on,” enns said. “will we get a bit more aggressive and say, ‘it’s not acceptable that i’m waiting a year to get my knee operated on, or that my mother is waiting six months to get a hip done.'”
owen has also been reflecting on the long months shaped by covid. one lesson he’s learned? “never assume you have reached the top of the mountain until you are down the other side,” he said in an
interview with western news.
despite the “done with it” narrative, owen said a slightly longer-term view of the outcome is needed. “this is going to go on for a long time, for a lot of people,” he told national post.
with hundreds of millions of people infected globally, if even one per cent develops long covid, “that’s a lot of people,” he said. “that’s going to have a huge societal impact. because these are people that won’t be able to hold down their jobs, perhaps, maybe they won’t be able to go back to school, or resume their normal daily activities.”
western university neuroscientist adrian owen: “this is going to go on for a long time, for a lot of people.”
supplied/file
his
group’s study unpacking covid brain fog
found that volunteers who reported having had a confirmed covid-positive test performed significantly worse than a sample of people, pre-pandemic, on cognitive measures of reasoning, speed of thinking and problem-solving speed, though short-term memory wasn’t impaired at all. while it’s not universal, it’s not true for everybody, the worse the covid symptoms, the more poorly people did, cognitively, three months afterwards. the same was true for older age. for both young and old, the pattern was similar to the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain: the covid group seemed to be behaving as if they had too little sleep, some months after they had recovered.