Interesting article
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The covid-19 pandemic is over. That is what most Americans seem to believe as they cram together for Formula One in Miami, sell out basketball stadiums and fill restaurants without masks.
This conventional wisdom is gravely wrong. I will continue to wear my N95 mask, limit my air and train travel, and avoid eating at indoor restaurants. When I teach, I will run a HEPA filter and require all my students to wear N95 masks, too.
Why? Largely because of long covid.
Many Americans will think me either stupid or foolish. They will point to recent data suggesting that about 60 percent of Americans have already contracted omicron or another coronavirus variant. So, they argue, covid is endemic. Just accept the inevitable.
This position reflects a triumph of desire over data. A wealth of evidence shows that covid-19 is not a mere cold or mild flu. It is a serious infection. Indeed, the belief that omicron was more mild than earlier variants was wrong. It was just as deadly.
And it comes with worrisome complications. Of course, we now have effective interventions, such as vaccines and treatments, to prevent acute illness and death. But we still do not know enough about the complications that come after the initial infection.
Though long covid was originally described in May 2020, there is not even a consensus definition for the condition. Yet we know many devastating symptoms can persist for months, including brain fog, fatigue with minimal exertion, extreme shortness of breath, insomnia and dizziness.
If the risk of long covid were low, I would agree that we should stop with masking and other precautions. But while we don’t know the precise frequency of the condition (a failure of the National Institutes of Health and biomedical researchers), we do know it is not rare.
Estimates range from 0.5 percent of infections to 30 percent, with 10 percent being a commonly cited risk.
Furthermore, there does not seem to be a correlation between the severity of the initial infection and the odds of getting long covid. Plenty of people with mild symptoms struggle with it……..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/12/stop-dismissing-long-covid-pandemic-symptoms/