131–140 of 159 posts
That still looks like a pretty poor response rate.
"Only a small portion of the study participants — about 4 percent — had been vaccinated before their infections, and many of those with only a single dose." Strong argument for the protective nature of the COVID vaccines. Although the virus certainly appears less damaging now in 2022 as opposed to when it first appeared.
Sure, if that's the way you want to interpret it... The way I see it it doesn't make any argument at all, the vaccine wasn't even available for the dates they consider ("starting in April 2020", hence the low vaccinated percentage), and by the time the vaccine was widely available, the virus had mutated into omicron, which is weak whether you are vaccinated or not.
That was not Hong Kong's experience with Omicron when it hit a population of unvaccinated older people and their per capita death rate soared up to one of the highest in the world.
The "weak" omicron effect is probably due to preexisting natural immunity and vaccination. South Africa where Omicron originated had a youthful population and high levels of natural immunity. Most of the developed world had a mix of natural immunity and high levels of vaccination (particularly in the elderly). Hong Kong had neither and Omicron still tore it up.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's funny is that the narrative early 2021 was everybody getting the vaccine would die within a year. I'm happy to have survived it.
That was maybe the crazies narrative on some Qanon site. I'm sure that was repeated often to make anti vaxers look insane. But for most anti vax people the narrative was "we have no idea if it's safe long term, and at the rate they seem to be pushing this on pregnant women right away, kids asap and apparently infants soon, I don't think I can trust these people." I can't honestly remember or repeat what all the fring…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I lost my dad" doesn't warrant an immediate "well, I didn't". You don't have to void someone's experience just because you think it'll scare some folks. I lost two friends to COVID. That weighs on me a hell of a lot more than the knowledge that I didn't lose others. It's going to influence every discussion on this forever. Because they died.
> "I lost my dad" doesn't warrant an immediate "well, I didn't" Yea it does when it's used as a rhetorical blunt object to bash dissent in every conversation when people speak about the egregious & fruitless authoritarianism that capitalized on the exaggerated risks of covid. There is a very specific risk profile and treating everyone who's at very low risk as though they're on the opposite end of the spectrum is sim…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "I lost my dad" doesn't warrant an immediate "well, I didn't" Yea it does when it's used as a rhetorical blunt object to bash dissent in every conversation when people speak about the egregious & fruitless authoritarianism that capitalized on the exaggerated risks of covid. There is a very specific risk profile and treating everyone who's at very low risk as though they're on the opposite end of the spectrum is sim…
No, it doesn't. I'm sorry that every discussion for you about covid is about the covid response which you dislike but sometimes people are just human. Have some empathy.
I'm curious if this study refutes or supports this often cited study on long COVID (I can't tell from the NYTimes article): > We demonstrate an absence of association between symptom burden and radiographic or biochemical abnormality. We suggest that the phenomenon of Long-COVID may not be directly attributable to the effect of SARS-CoV-2, but rather the neuropsychiatric insults may play a greater role in its aetiolo…
> We demonstrate an absence of association between symptom burden and radiographic or biochemical abnormality. We suggest that the phenomenon of Long-COVID may not be directly attributable to the effect of SARS-CoV-2, but rather the neuropsychiatric insults may play a greater role in its aetiology. This is consistent with ME/CFS, which the WHO classifies as a disorder of the nervous system. There are no known diagnos…
I had a girlfriend who got ME/CFS. Before she could race me up a 1000 ft hill after she could hardly walk. That change happened in a few days as a result of an infection, and lasted years. Definitely wasn't psychological.
I know 21 people that have had covid, from 3 to 91. 1 person had long covid, still requires oxygen months later. Either my friends and family are unduly healthy, or there's maybe something questionable about the "half". If I flipped a coin 21 times and it only came up tails once, I wouldn't believe it was a fair coin...
I think for useful research they should look at people say whose heart rate goes to 120 when they try standing or some such criteria that normal people don't fit. Feel a bit tired/down is something that could apply to anyone really. I think that may be what's leading to the "nearly half" in the title.
But it was partially psychological: whether that partial was 10% or 50% or 80%, you can judge.
The acute phase lasted two weeks. I had a very strong mix of what was a bad cold and allergy symptoms, progressing to a dry cough from a very bad wet cough. I also had dizziness, forgetfulness, and at one point everything in the world smelled of orange for a week. I had terrible, terrible health care, I was given steroids that spiked my resting heart rate to 110-120 (normally 55-60), told nonsense advice ranging from "it's just a cold" to "here's a Z-PAC in case it gets worse" (I never took it), and of course I never qualified for the antivirals for reasons best left not mentioned here without causing a political argument, the part that makes me the angriest of all.
Anyway, after that for two months I had shortness of breath, strange sleep issues, dizziness, and chest tightness. I went to see a lung specialist in a long covid specialty part of a famous hospital chain in the first two weeks of that period. I was told I was at risk for mitochondrial dysfunction, that I should never do strength training again, that some of the other patients became crippled after one year. That POTS was a risk, etc. That athletes have the highest risk for permanent disablement from long covid.
I became distraught, and during this time had some of the darkest thoughts of my life. Can't exercise? Risk for POTS? Disabled? That's it for me. I had dark circles under my eyes and fell into a sort of depression. Dysautonomia is the generalized name for the disorder. Anxiety was triggered, and it played its role.
I remember I'd taken an Uber at one point who told me that the vaccine gave him symptoms, and he described all the same stuff as me: shortness of breath, waking up at night sweating randomly, dizziness. He was wide-eyed as I explained long covid / dysautonomia. He had had covid prior to the vaccine, and I told him that was the cause.
Then one day I went back to the specialist and I brought with me a printout of an endoscopy I'd done a few months prior that showed esophageal inflammation and a GERD diagnosis. I also had a detailed printout of exercise attempts, and notes and dates for what I experienced that night, the next day and the day after, rating the shortness of breath, sleep disturbances, etc. I did a stress test with a cardiologist that showed I was exceeding the markers at every level, was cleared. After that both cleared me for exercise.
Overnight my mood change, my physical body felt more healed, and I went full speed ahead in revamping my exercise regimen.
Literally everything was fine, then.
Well. This weekend I was exposed to covid and today, day 4, I'm testing negative but experiencing some cold symptoms and some chest congestion.
How much of the above is in my head versus actual is open to debate. I honestly don't know the answer.
But sometimes I wonder, if no one ever told me anything about covid, and ignorance were bliss, how much healthier I'd probably be and how much better the last six months would have been!
I know 21 people that have had covid, from 3 to 91. 1 person had long covid, still requires oxygen months later. Either my friends and family are unduly healthy, or there's maybe something questionable about the "half". If I flipped a coin 21 times and it only came up tails once, I wouldn't believe it was a fair coin...
I just filled in a long term covid effects questionnaire. There were a lot of vague questions in there along the do you feel tired / depressed line. I think depending on the boxes ticked they might put me down as not fully recovered even though I definitely don't have what most people would think as long covid. I basically recovered fine though sometimes are a bit tired - hard to know if the covid contributed or not.…