Many people probably hadn’t considered how a viral or infectious disease could be disabling until the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the truth is that even though such impairments are rare, they are very complex medical conditions that are frequently hard to treat and can be disabling. Impairments like Long Covid, MRSA, C. Diff., chronic pneumonia or influenza, Epstein-Barr virus, HIV, hepatitis, and shingles cause numerous chronic symptoms, including pain, persistent and profound fatigue, susceptibility to infections, shortness of breath, and muscle weakness; many of these illnesses can also cause long-lasting damage to the heart and lungs. Treatment usually consists of complex “cocktails” of various medications, various types of therapies, and sometimes surgery. People with these conditions must rest frequently during the day to manage their symptoms. Sometimes, the treatments can cause additional side effects that limit a person’s ability to function.

Most viral and infectious disorders do not affect a person the same way every day; it is very typical for a person with this kind of medical condition to have “good days and bad days,” days where functioning does not seem very affected at all, but other days where it’s a struggle even to do basic daily activities.

A disabling condition does not need to be disabling every day to support a finding that a person is unable to work because being able to work means doing it daily, week after week, on a regular and continuous basis.