I agree, but it's my understanding that infectious disease experts aren't the ones presenting these worries about long haulers. None of the doctors quoted in the article seem to be infectious disease experts.
The very first doctor quoted is Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. You might want to reconsider that "None".
”Anecdotally, there’s no question that there are a considerable number of individuals who have a postviral syndrome that really, in many respects, can incapacitate them for weeks and weeks following so-called recovery and clearing of the virus,”
in other words, he’s acknowledging that these people exist and are reporting something. He’s not saying anything about the validity of their claims.
You can add to that the many scientific publications cited about what fraction of people seem to encounter these symptoms and what symptoms they are. While I agree that self-diagnosis by hypochondriacs will lead to a lot of anecdotes not based in reality, there is also plenty of evidence that there is a real issue here as well.
Right, which is still pure speculation. And by the way: CFS is a diagnosis of exclusion. The man is obviously not validating that thousands of people have an illness based on anecdotes. That would be a sure way to lose his medical license.
” You can add to that the many scientific publications cited about what fraction of people seem to encounter these symptoms and what symptoms they are.”
So far, that number is “zero”.
There have been no publications showing any evidence that “these symptoms” occur at any rate above baseline in the population. If any existed, sure they’d have mentioned them in this article?
There have been a few publications suggesting cardiac involvement in a small number of patients. To date, most of these have been withdrawn or debunked. Beyond this, the “publications“ on “long-haul Covid” consist almost exclusively of self-reported symptom data from people who self-select for feeling crummy.
But I am always interested in evidence, and I welcome you to cite the research upon which you’re basing your conjecture.
That doesn't seem like "zero" to me.
Furthermore note that the result wouldn't be surprising. Long-term followup on SARS finds that 15 years after being infected, 4.6% still had visible lesions in the lungs and 38% had reduced diffusion capacity. Given that, the claim that a significant minority (eg > 5%) of people with COVID-19 should still have significant symptoms after several months seems quite plausible.