Struck down by long COVID for the past year, a great athlete and CEGEP student remains hopeful even if he has to spend his days lying down doing nothing, because the slightest effort completely exhausts him.

“Deep down, I think I’ll heal completely, but it’s going to take time. I trust science,” says Ludovic Bégin, with a weak voice on the other end of the line.

Five years after COVID-19 disrupted the daily lives of many people in the country, some are still dealing with the lingering after-effects of this virus, whose symptoms are most often similar to those of the flu and fade after a few days. For Marie-Noëlle Claveau, the effects of long COVID persist, years later.

The singing professor and coordinator of the music program at Collège d’Alma has been dealing with the consequences of this disease since November 2023. Since then, she has been on sick leave and is being monitored at the long COVID clinic at the Jonquière Hospital.

“Let’s just say that the years 2023 and 2024 were quite difficult, but I can say that progress continues to be made slowly but surely,” says Marie-Noëlle Claveau.

Roxanne Major was working as an auxiliary nurse in a seniors’ residence two years ago when a COVID-19 outbreak spread through the home, infecting staff and residents.

Asked to replace a colleague who fell ill, Major took extra precautions. She disinfected her medication cart three times and wore a mask, full gown, gloves and protective glasses.

Despite her efforts, Major soon tested positive herself. Following a brief attempt to return to work the next week — the dizziness and exhaustion were too much — she was granted 10 days off to recover.

Two years later, Major, 40, has yet to return to the job she loved for 19 years. As she said in a recent interview, “everything went upside down.”

To illustrate her long journey through long COVID, Dr. Anne Bhéreur shows me a photo sent to her by her friend Julie Pinard, who also suffers from a severe form of the disease. It shows the ice of the river at Kamouraska, sparkling in a thousand pieces under a winter sun. In the distance, fog. On the other bank, Mont des Éboulements.

The photo captures what Dr. Bhéreur has been going through since she was infected with COVID-19. It was in December 2020, following an outbreak in the palliative care setting where she worked. The doctor, a mother in her forties with no medical history and boundless energy, was convinced that she would return to her old life after 10 days. More than four years later, while she is still living with serious after-effects of the disease, she is beginning to come to terms with the idea that this life may not come back.