Deaths can be counted with reasonable accuracy (although there are some edge cases where the primary cause of death is unclear). Whereas "long COVID" is just a vague term for a random collection of non-specific symptoms which seem to occur more commonly in recovered patients than in the general population. The science in this area is very preliminary and mostly low quality as studies have relied mainly on subjective patient reports rather than objective test results. For example, one recent widely cited study listed anxiety as a common "long COVID" symptom even though they didn't describe a plausible causative mechanism.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

In general any serious viral infection can potentially cause post-viral syndrome. That's not a valid reason for keeping pandemic control restrictions or mandates in place indefinitely. At some point we have to accept the risk and move on.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1710789/