It’s probably bad for a mod to be posting this. To be fair, I’m still 100% doing covid precautions, including N95 masking and boosters. I’m still actively very covid conscious.
I’m aware that there hasn’t been much new research on long covid numbers after 2024, or at least nothing that I can find. Trump taking over the presidency hasn’t helped. I’m very much a sciency kind of person, and I could always pinpoint a study as to why I’m still masking and being extra cautious.
Obviously caring about the vulnerable is still a very good reason to keep being cautious.
A lot of libs have been saying that “well we’re all immune from multiple infections, so long covid is over”. Clearly the opinions of libs should be discarded, and their thoughts are anecdotal af, but still I would appreciate some facts to keep me cautious through this difficult time.
BTW CDC pulse survey data still shows that around 10% of US adults have long covid.
First of all, Libs were saying this in 2021. And 2022. And 2023. And 2024. And each year I saw more and more people I knew develop very clear Long Covid, (although only a few acknowledged that’s what it was, but they’d get covid for the 3rd or more time and complain about sudden onset of symptoms that were consistent with LC). I expect 2025 would be the same but I’m more isolated now and don’t hear about it as much, plus the testing infrastructure has gotten so much worse that people aren’t necessarily going to know if they got covid or something else.
There’s no mechanism or selection pressure for covid to get less damaging, so there’s no reason to think it’s gotten better. The damage comes from the virus getting everywhere since it binds to a receptor that is in every cell, and the immune system fighting it off, which is what causes the damage that gives Long Covid such an incredibly broad range of symptoms. Yes it mutates constantly, but that part stays the same.
And the “multiple infections makes you immune” thing is hopium. Antibody efficacy for covid (whether from vaccine or infection) wanes fast because it mutates so quickly, like how getting the flu one year may not prevent a flu infection the next year, but worse. Much hay was made in crunchy circles about “natural immunity” (the idea that getting covid would confer better immunity to future variants than getting vaccinated) which has been thoroughly debunked by the fact that people keep getting infected over and over again.
I remember hearing that covid damages the immune system too so people who get it are actually more susceptible to other infection in general but I didn’t follow if that was true or not. Seems like there was some impact but it didn’t end up being as bad as HIV.
It’s true, it opens us up to opportunistic infections. This also happens after a flu infection, which has led to some doctors dismissing it as a concern, but people don’t get the flu every 4-6 months or develop persistent flu infections like they do with covid.
For an example, here is a chart showing the rate of bacterial infections for which there are no vaccines in the UK, showing the impact covid had:
Not as bad as HIV, but not great and more widespread among the population.
We’ve also just had one of the worst flu seasons in 15 years, one of the worst whooping cough seasons since the 50’s, and here’s a chart that lists strep cases in the US:
This happened after the covid restrictions were removed, and it was blamed on “people catching up on infections they missed during the lockdown”, but it’s been three years of this shit and if anything the problem is getting worse. The rise in the number of people who have anti-vax brainworms doesn’t help, but it doesn’t explain all of it.
That is bleak. And the immunity debt myth has been debunked but still won’t die because Capital needed the status who to remain. Thank you for the clarification and the charts!
I fucking hate ppl stating that covid is less dangerous only on vibes. Like if you’re not a medical professional or quoting a medical body, stfu.
I get that people are busy and don’t have the time to read up on all the research, but damn I wish that average Joe liberal office worker had a bit more humility on something not simple such as fucking medicine.