Lots of things worry me about our handling of Covid, but what troubles me most is the *absolute* lack of government and other messaging about the potential long-term effects of even a mild infection. Right now, it seems, we are at the point where most people seem to be thinking: getting Covid is no big deal, just like a cold, who cares? …
Lots of things worry me about our handling of Covid, but what troubles me most is the *absolute* lack of government and other messaging about the potential long-term effects of even a mild infection. Right now, it seems, we are at the point where most people seem to be thinking: getting Covid is no big deal, just like a cold, who cares? Never mind the 300-400 daily deaths from the disease. And never mind the growing body of papers that show long-term and possibility permanent increased risk of heart attacks and strokes (for just one reference, see Eric Topol's "Ground Truths" article "Heart attacks and strokes late after Covid", published recently). I guess this cuts close to the bone: my 27-year-old previously fit and healthy daughter got Covid quite early, and now has heart and neurological damage that may require coronary surgery and, at its worst, means she now has to use sticks to get around. So a question, Katelyn and Jeremy: why are you not writing about this? Perhaps if scientists started shouting from the rooftops about the increased MI and stroke risk, maybe people would start realizing that this disease is set to change the future of human life expectancy, and not for the better.
Yes!!! My 12 year/old has COVID right now, the first in our family. Despite three Pfizer vaccines, he has been the sickest I have ever seen him. I am nervous for myself, my husband, and my younger son. And I am also terrified of what this means for my eldest’s overall health.
A mild case of Covid *can* have long-term effects, but it doesn't *always* have long-term effects. And it's even more complicated than that - all these effects are superimposed on what's now a non-trivial amount of aging - three years! How do we tease out the effects of a viral infection from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune? Then there's the fact that other viruses can and do have long-term effects (in fact that's what gives long covid its plausibility). This isn't to dismiss your concerns, just that public messaging on that is really tricky, and hard to walk back if you get it wrong.
Totally agree. But even consistently communicating that Covid (of whatever severity) can lead to long-term illnesses that are disabling or even fatal might just persuade more people to wear masks, get vaccinated (even if that's a short-term measure) and so forth. This would be a very good thing. Right now I see two phenomena: (1) people carrying on with their lives as if Covid didn't exist (until they catch it, which they invariably do, often more than once), and (2) a lot more people dying "unexpectedly" in their 50s and 60s than I've ever seen in my life -- a few of them friends. And just somehow I don't think that's a coincidence, although I have no data to support that. Trouble is, the people in group (1) don't seem to have heard about the people in group (2)...
Lots of things worry me about our handling of Covid, but what troubles me most is the *absolute* lack of government and other messaging about the potential long-term effects of even a mild infection. Right now, it seems, we are at the point where most people seem to be thinking: getting Covid is no big deal, just like a cold, who cares? Never mind the 300-400 daily deaths from the disease. And never mind the growing body of papers that show long-term and possibility permanent increased risk of heart attacks and strokes (for just one reference, see Eric Topol's "Ground Truths" article "Heart attacks and strokes late after Covid", published recently). I guess this cuts close to the bone: my 27-year-old previously fit and healthy daughter got Covid quite early, and now has heart and neurological damage that may require coronary surgery and, at its worst, means she now has to use sticks to get around. So a question, Katelyn and Jeremy: why are you not writing about this? Perhaps if scientists started shouting from the rooftops about the increased MI and stroke risk, maybe people would start realizing that this disease is set to change the future of human life expectancy, and not for the better.
Yes!!! My 12 year/old has COVID right now, the first in our family. Despite three Pfizer vaccines, he has been the sickest I have ever seen him. I am nervous for myself, my husband, and my younger son. And I am also terrified of what this means for my eldest’s overall health.
I am so sorry about your daughter. This has been too polticized from the beginning and still is. Thank you for your input!
A mild case of Covid *can* have long-term effects, but it doesn't *always* have long-term effects. And it's even more complicated than that - all these effects are superimposed on what's now a non-trivial amount of aging - three years! How do we tease out the effects of a viral infection from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune? Then there's the fact that other viruses can and do have long-term effects (in fact that's what gives long covid its plausibility). This isn't to dismiss your concerns, just that public messaging on that is really tricky, and hard to walk back if you get it wrong.
Totally agree. But even consistently communicating that Covid (of whatever severity) can lead to long-term illnesses that are disabling or even fatal might just persuade more people to wear masks, get vaccinated (even if that's a short-term measure) and so forth. This would be a very good thing. Right now I see two phenomena: (1) people carrying on with their lives as if Covid didn't exist (until they catch it, which they invariably do, often more than once), and (2) a lot more people dying "unexpectedly" in their 50s and 60s than I've ever seen in my life -- a few of them friends. And just somehow I don't think that's a coincidence, although I have no data to support that. Trouble is, the people in group (1) don't seem to have heard about the people in group (2)...