He describes this infernal round as ” a carousel “. Extreme fatigue, problems concentrating, remembering, body aches, shortness of breath… In total, Gérard (first name has been changed), executive in a company specializing in human resources, identified forty-three symptoms. Since the end of 2020, he has been affected by a serious form of long-term Covid – a term which designates the persistence of sequelae several weeks or even months after contracting the virus – and sees the suffering follow one another from one day to the next, randomly.
After seventeen months off, he returned to work in early May, part-time therapy. “The situation is complicated at the office”, he summarizes. First of all because “ [sa] disease cannot be seen: it is an invisible handicap”. He recounts the suspicious look of a colleague, the disbelief of his line manager, for whom a full-time recovery would have been preferable. “She is not interested in my health problems and thinks that I am in a depressed state. » Gérard considers today to have been “closet”. “My part-time work does not allow me to carry out complete recruitment procedures, so I was entrusted with administrative tasks that I carried out at the start of my career”he laments.
If it is little mentioned in business, the disease nevertheless concerns “a large part of the French population”, indicates Public Health France. His study, published in the spring, specifies that 2.06 million people over the age of 18 had a post-Covid-19 condition at the beginning of April, based on the criteria of the World Health Organization ( symptoms present at least three months after infection).
Those affected agree: long Covid is a disease that is largely unknown in business. This can sometimes lead to tensions, as in Gerard’s society. More generally, this ignorance does not encourage discussion, and frequently places patients in a situation of isolation.
They suffer from the lack of hindsight on the long Covid, but also from its complexity, the disease can take many forms of varying intensity (extreme fatigue, digestive disorders, loss of attention, neurological disorders, sight problems, etc.). A total of 203 symptoms were identified. A group of patients, the ApresJ20 association, also deplores a lack of communication from the public authorities on the issue.
Very diverse situations
The subject is therefore not one that animates HR teams. “I have no feedback and questions from human resources directors on this subject, I have not heard of it”summarizes Benoît Serre, vice-president of the national association of HRDs. “The question is really not taken in hand by the companies”abounds the senior executive of a large group.
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