Editor's Note: There’s no denying a small percentage of hospitalized Covid patients experience complications — sometimes quite severe — following their recovery. But the mystery of “long Covid,” as defined in terms of huge fractions of the population that were never hospitalized experiencing persistent “debilitating” symptoms with no known basis in medical reality poses many interesting questions. With men experiencing markedly higher rates of severe Covid symptoms and Covid morbidity, why has the phenomena of “long Covid” impacted nearly twice as many women? Why does the phenomena of “long Covid” far more greatly impact people with a history of anxiety? And why, among the LGBTQ, do gay men and lesbians experience the phenomena of “long Covid” roughly on par with their straight counterparts, while the rates among bisexuals are nearly twice as high?

A fascinating Sunday morning mystery. River Page explores.

-Solana