Sylvie Gagnon has been struggling with the symptoms of long COVID since early 2023, when she caught the virus for a fourth time since the outset of the pandemic.

A business development manager, Gagnon has been off work ever since. Needing help with daily tasks, she’s had to move in with her son and daughter-in-law.

On the few days she manages to leave the house in Vaudreuil-Dorion, she wears sunglasses and earmuffs — the condition has played havoc with her senses, leaving her hypersensitive to light and noise. Her pressure spikes without warning. Any exercise causes extreme fatigue.

“Some people still think long COVID is just having a bad, continuous cold,” Gagnon, 56, said over the phone last week, her voice reduced to a whisper. “But that’s not the case.”

Four years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, upending lives around the world, millions of Quebecers have contracted the virus at least once. Nearly 20,000 people have died, and thousands of others are still living with long COVID.