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Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

nytimes.com

111–120 of 182 posts

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#111
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how anyone can deny the risks inherent to getting a shot. However insignificantly low you can demonstrate the possibility of side-effects from the vaccine are, the risks associated with actually getting covid were just as low. Given the vaccine isn't even preventing covid now, you're only compounding your risk by getting it. This is undeniable no matter what you think about vaccines, mandates, etc.

I think the risks of lying in a hospital, strapped to a ventilator were a lot higher with Covid than with getting the shot. To be honest I would recommend the shot even if just to prevent potential month-long loss of smell, as I experienced it (I think that symptom is less prevalent with recent variants though, but I could be mistaken)

I think the use of ventillators was deemed overzealous and reactionary before we even had a vaccine rollout.

Covid gave me a fever for two days. The vaccine gave me a fever for two days. I don't see how either was better/worse than the other in my case.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#112
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like if our society had UBI (Universal Basic Income) we wouldn't have to worry so much over cases like this - people would be able to get by, it wouldn't be a crisis for so many individuals.

Our Covid response really hurt the case for UBI. It turns out, when people are paid to stay at home and not work, even for a short period of time, we get high inflation and product shortages.

It just tought us that introducing UBI needs to go hand in hand with measures to prevent capturing of this money by landlords.

Personally I'd like to see progressive real estate tax introduced. The more property you own, the higher percentage of its value you need to pay each year as a tax.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#113
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like if our society had UBI (Universal Basic Income) we wouldn't have to worry so much over cases like this - people would be able to get by, it wouldn't be a crisis for so many individuals.

Our Covid response really hurt the case for UBI. It turns out, when people are paid to stay at home and not work, even for a short period of time, we get high inflation and product shortages.

A UBI doesn't pay people to stay home. If anything it gives the many extra reasons to go out and work because they won't lose benefits.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#114
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the risks of lying in a hospital, strapped to a ventilator were a lot higher with Covid than with getting the shot. To be honest I would recommend the shot even if just to prevent potential month-long loss of smell, as I experienced it (I think that symptom is less prevalent with recent variants though, but I could be mistaken)

I think the use of ventillators was deemed overzealous and reactionary before we even had a vaccine rollout. Covid gave me a fever for two days. The vaccine gave me a fever for two days. I don't see how either was better/worse than the other in my case.

The people who couldn't breathe certainly appreciated the ventilators. Possible that some were hooked to them unnecessarily, but certainly not all of them.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#115
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Stop telling people who have serious physical symptoms that it's all mental" As someone who has serious physical symptoms stemming from mental disorder, I think you're being a dick. The experience is the same even if the root cause is mental. And your attitude belittles it.

Nowhere did I say mental disorders are better or less harmful than physical disorders, and nowhere did I say that the experience is not the same from a patient's point of view. However, there's a great difference in how the medical profession treats people with physical and mental disorders, and these patients are being told repeatedly by the entire world that they are feeling what they are feeling because of anxiety…

Ok I misinterpreted you then. It ticked me off when you seemed ask people to not mistake "real" physical stuff from mere mental stuff. Sorry.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our Covid response really hurt the case for UBI. It turns out, when people are paid to stay at home and not work, even for a short period of time, we get high inflation and product shortages.

Just so I understand...two stimmy checks are to blame for inflation and product shortages? I know this is a popular talking point, but there needs to be some facts to back this up. Supply chains were wrecked by shipping container shortages due to bottlenecking at ports as well as factory shutdowns. There are proven instances where businesses increased prices just because they could.

About two years ago the requirement of fractional reserve was removed completely. This allowed banks to create as much money as there was appetite for credit. Completely insane amount of money was created through this mechanism in last two years.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#117
post #93

Personal anecdote: I'm going through some mental issues as a result of my divorce and I have trouble staying motivated at work. It's incredibly tempting to claim that I'm suffering from long COVID as an excuse instead of a mental health issue. I wonder how many people are just using it as a convenient excuse?

Given the push for mental health & disability visibility as part of DE&I initiatives, is there a reason that you think long covid would garner you more sympathy than saying you're suffering depression as the result of a traumatic experience?

[deleted]

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#118

I've recently realized that I've been unusually tired, daily, and lack the usually high ambition and drive I had prior to January 2020, which is when I caught COVID. I never got the vaccine and I'm curious if my symptoms are related to COVID, or related to being a few years older, or changes to exercise schedules, or a general change in life outlook after the past few years, or even mild depression or something. It m…

I've been experiencing that, too, but mine started early in 2019 when I got burned out at work. I've been coasting ever since. Some weeks I get zero work done, and I struggle to do the minimum of get out of bed, exercise, and shower some days.

I don't think it's covid, except inasmuch as the isolation of work-from-home has made every day identically boring and unstimulating. The sense of looming doom -- new covid variants, long covid, and the beginning stages of world war 4 -- make it hard to care about doing anything for the long term.

I wish I had a solution. I'm considering taking a long sabbatical. My fear is that won't help, and I'll deplete my savings before the world can get any better, which I think is what I really need to overcome it.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone receives UBI. Those earning additional income beyond a threshold will pay taxes such that their "net UBI" for the tax year or other tax period will be 0 or less. But the standard UBI payments come in no matter what. Can you better phrase how you're looking at this like an experiment with control and test components?

That was just a poor sentence. By "claim it" I'm referring to opting not to work and citing long covid. I'm asking if after having given everyone an escape hatch, what is going to fund UBI?

Progressive property tax. The more property you own, the higher percentage of its value you pay every year as a tax.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#120
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Covid is not just a respiratory disease. It can affect "the heart, kidneys, skin and brain. Inflammation and problems with the immune system can also happen," according to Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/i... They're mainly talking about severe cases, but it doesn't seem that unlikely that it could also have more mild effects to those organs.

This article is about Long Covid, so in a sense this is circular evidence. Nonetheless, the two qualifiers in the statement "People who had severe illness with COVID-19 might experience organ damage affecting the heart, kidneys, skin and brain" weakens the argument. If the long-covid issue was just that people who were in ICU then had long-term symptoms, that's an easy premise to understand. But IMHO, for mild sympto…

"A large study comparing brain scans from the same individuals before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection suggests that brain changes could be a lingering outcome of even mild COVID-19."

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2790595

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