On Sept. 24, two days after the provincial election was called, the Medical Services Commission signed off on changes that restrict virtual “group medical visits” to 30 patients, down from 50, effective Nov. 1. Patient advocates have noted that this change will reduce access to care for people with many chronic health conditions. It also directly contradicts the recommendations from our research with people with long COVID.

With a new provincial government set to take its seat in the legislature, an immediate task of the new minister of health should be to review and revise the proposed changes to ensure they do not restrict patient care.

Over the past four years, we have engaged with people with long COVID to better understand barriers to health care. An estimated 36 per cent of people worldwide develop long COVID after a COVID infection, and B.C. Centre for Disease Control data from 2022 identified over 327,000 people with long COVID in B.C. Our survey, conducted in 2025 with 621 people with long COVID across Canada, found that 60 per cent of B.C.-based respondents accessed group medical visits, with many noting this was the only form of care available to them.