What is long covid?

While most people recover quickly from coronavirus (covid-19), for some people, covid-19 can cause symptoms that last weeks or months after the infection has gone. This is sometimes called post-covid-19 syndrome or 'long covid'. 

Depending on how long you have ongoing symptoms for, it can be called one of two things:

• ongoing symptomatic covid – where symptoms continue for more than four weeks
• post-covid Syndrome – where ongoing symptoms continue for longer than 12 weeks and cannot be explained by any other condition.

The chances of having long-term symptoms do not seem to be linked to how unwell a person is when they first get covid-19.

Symptoms of long covid can be many and varied and can change over time. Some of the most common ones include:

• cough
• fatigue
• breathlessness
• muscle and joint pain
• sleep problems
• brain fog, loss of concentration or memory issues (cognitive impairment
• depression, anxiety.

You can find further details on the NHS website. 

What work is NAHT doing to support members with the impact of long covid?

NAHT’s work supporting members with long covid is considered from two aspects – supporting individual members who may be suffering from long covid and supporting members as leaders, who may be supporting staff who are suffering with long covid. 

Below we outline some of the key aspects of our current work. 

Ill-health retirement and long covid

NAHT, through our involvement with the Teachers' Pensions Scheme Advisory Board, to press the Department for Education to scope out changes to teachers' ill-health provision in order to respond better to the health impact of the coronavirus pandemic on teachers and leaders: find further details about this here. 

Managing staff with long covid

NAHT has developed guidance designed to support the member, as a line manager, to understand the implications of long covid when managing long-term absence.

Joint protocol: the management of long covid

NAHT, alongside ASCL, Community, GMB, NASUWT, NEU, Unison and Unite, have developed a joint protocol that provides the basis for a consistent approach to management at the workplace of those individuals medically diagnosed as having long covid.  

Individual support

For those members who require individual support, we offer guidance through our advice line. For those members whose employment might be impacted and/or is at risk, additional support is available through our regional teams. You can get additional information on contacting NAHT here.

NAHT’s Disabled Members' Network 

The Disabled Members' Network is a safe space for all members who identify as disabled (including those who are suffering from long covid) to come together to discuss the experiences and issues facing disabled school leaders, both within the profession and NAHT itself. You can find out further information about the network and register here.