The 2000 film The Beach (d. Danny Boyle) has a bit where 3 minor characters are attacked by a shark while fishing. 2 die outright; one, badly wounded, lingers.

Their remote, utopian community initially comes together to help, but turns resentful when forced to endure the survivor’s ongoing cries of suffering. First he’s segregated. Finally, he’s smothered, for everyone else’s benefit.

Anyway, this feels like a metaphor for how society’s chosen to handle long COVID.