I still don't find this particular study convincing in its claims of hair loss and sexual dysfunction being mechanically related to COVID aside from the general stress of it.
As a layperson, I have some sort of cognitive dissonance calling it "Long COVID" as if it's a separate but related disease, or a continuation of the primary infection. People's bodies suffer long-lasting damage while successfully fighting off all sorts of infections. But I don't recall it being framed this way.
ORIGINAL: Like most people here in the comments, I'm coming at this report with a healthy amount of skepticism.
The relatively paltry numbers and self-reporting remind me of the folks in cancer clusters in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania, who completely believe they're victims of the Three Mile Island accident even though it's scientifically impossible for that to be true.
I believe the symptoms are real. But about a million things can cause hair loss and sexual dysfunction, including stress. Perhaps the stress of getting sick during a pandemic when people are dying and you know you're infected with the same illness? The fear of the unknown? Seeing people survive with complications and worrying that the worst of your particular case is yet to come? The guilt from wondering why you were pardoned when so many others weren't so lucky?
I'm pretty sure there's historical precedent for psychological symptoms made physical among the survivors of pandemics throughout history.
That's not to say that there are no precedents of lingering disorders, for example encephalitis lethargica in the wake of the 1918 flu pandemic. But my layperson's application of Occam's razor is telling me this is more Morgellons than encephalitis lethargica given the data currently available.
I would be more than happy to be proven wrong about so-called "long COVID" if it meant there could be a more effective treatment than the complicated world of psychiatric healthcare. If there could be a pill or a shot that could relieve these symptoms, I'd be delighted to eat crow.