“I’ve had the flu twice as an adult and this is not like the flu at all. When you get the flu, you get the symptoms, but then you’re back to normal right away. That didn’t happen to me. I’m still dealing with lingering symptoms.”

Julia’s symptoms crept in like a rolling fog of fatigue and aching back pain, easy to write​ off as “anxiety” until more symptoms emerged. A couple of weeks later, flattened by COVID’s effects, it brought home that her life and her health were not in her hands.