The Survivorship Bias That’s Killing Us
Long COVID and the Myth of “Moving On”
It’s easy to believe everything is fine when you only see the survivors. The people who didn’t die, who seem to be “back to normal,” are the faces we focus on. But what about the ones you don’t see? The coworker who hasn’t returned to the office. The friend who never seems to make plans anymore. The parent who used to juggle it all but now struggles to get through the day.
These are the millions suffering from Long COVID. Their absence is as loud as it is invisible. And yet, because they’re out of sight, we pretend they’re not part of the story. Survivorship bias—the tendency to focus only on those who appear to have “made it”—has shaped how we talk about COVID-19, and it’s distorting the truth.
The truth is, none of us are fine. Not with repeated infections, not with ignoring the long-term consequences, and certainly not with the Trump Administration’s decision to gag the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Long COVID research.
Survivorship Bias in Action: The Myth of “Recovered”
We see people going back to work, traveling, living their lives, and assume the danger has passed. But survivorship bias blinds us to the millions who can’t participate in this so-called return to normal. For every person who “bounces back,” there’s another who never does—or who is quietly accumulating damage with every reinfection.
Repeated COVID infections don’t just vanish without consequence. Each one ages you at a cellular level, leaving scars on your brain, heart, and immune system. You might think you’re fine because you’re still standing, but survivorship bias has tricked you into ignoring the cracks forming beneath the surface.
People on their second, fifth, or tenth infection are starting to experience things they never expected: sudden heart attacks, strokes, autoimmune diseases. They’re finding themselves more distracted, restless, and unable to focus—symptoms of dopamine-generating cells in the brain being damaged. They’re realizing that being a “survivor” doesn’t mean being unharmed.
This bias not only warps our perception of what COVID does, but it also fuels complacency. It allows us to believe that the worst is behind us, when in reality, the damage is ongoing and compounding.
The Invisible Majority: Long COVID Patients Left Behind
For the millions suffering from Long COVID, survivorship bias feels like erasure. Society has moved on, celebrating its “victory” over the virus while ignoring those who never recovered.