When Fiona Walsh contracted Covid-19 in January 2021, she had no idea how much her life would change. Her symptoms at the time were quite moderate, she says, beginning with the expected loss of taste.
She qualified as a nurse in 2009, and began working at a Cork hospital between then and when she contracted the virus.
“I didn’t know back then – four years and six months ago – that that would be the last time I’d work,” she says.
Since her infection with the virus, Walsh has battled long Covid – a syndrome, characterised by the persistence or development of symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness and muscle weakness, attributed to Covid-19.
Ireland’s Greenest Places: From Dún Laoghaire’s active travel to Kiltimagh’s biodiversity park - some of the entries so far
British police open investigation into Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury on Saturday
Intel to seek almost 200 mandatory redundancies at Leixlip plant
Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Paramount+: 10 of the best new shows to stream in July
“My quality of life is poor. I’m only in my 30s, but I’m not the person I was in December 2020. I’ve lost my career, which is a big identity loss,” she says.
“It’s crippling, the fatigue. I have brain fog which would be quite severe. I forget things; I leave taps on, I mix up my own medications. Nobody wants a nurse with brain fog. I have nerve pain, muscular pain, palpitations. As the years have gone by, I worry this is as good as it is going to be. At the moment, we are very much in limbo.”
In the past three years, her recovery has “plateaued”, she says, “but the bad days vastly outnumber the good days”.
In December 2022, the Government introduced a special payment scheme for healthcare workers living with long Covid. The scheme, which was introduced as a temporary measure, has been extended a number of times but was due to finish at the end of June.
Late on Thursday evening, the Labour Court recommended a final extension of the current special scheme for healthcare workers living with long Covid to run up to December 31st, 2025, which the Government accepted.
The Government said 159 Health Service Executive and Section 38 – or public service disability – organisation staff are currently on the scheme and in receipt of full pay.
From the start of 2026, anyone still in receipt of payment under the scheme should transition to the Public Service Sick Leave Scheme, the court said.
Walsh is one such beneficiary of the scheme; she says she believes it should be available indefinitely to healthcare workers. Waiting to hear whether it would be extended once again was a “horrible, stressful day”, she says.
“We did what was asked of us and we went to work but we got sick at work and we are now paying the price with our health,” she says. “We are obviously very, very grateful for the news [of the extension] but the hope is now that the Government will follow the rest of Europe as identifying Covid as an occupational illness.”
Olivia Barry is another nurse based in Co Cork who contracted the virus through work in December 2020. Over the course of her 20-year-long career, she used to work 12- or 13-hour shifts. She walked a lot and sometimes ran, she recalls.
“Now, some days it’s difficult to get out of bed. I’ve lost a part of myself. We worked so hard to become nurses and for our career, and when that’s taken away from you, that’s soul destroying,” she says.
“We followed all policies and procedures that were in place but unfortunately they didn’t protect us. So we’ve contracted Covid prior to there being vaccines available.”
Barry says she is grateful to the Government for the extensions to the scheme in recent months.
“But each time those extensions end, we’re left on a cliff edge with such uncertainty. Like, how are we going to pay our mortgages? Once December happens again, we’re back to square one.”
