Penn State study: more than half of all Covid survivors have Long Covid

A Penn State article about the research:

https://news.psu.edu/story/672142/2...ple-get-long-covid-more-half-researchers-find

The full text of the study itself, from JAMA (this is a published, peer-reviewed study in one of the top 5 medical journals, that involved data from more than 250,000 patients; it's very reliable):

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/ja...ferral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=101321

Some people think of Covid only in terms of the death toll. I've been saying forever that the death toll is not all that is concerning regarding Covid. I've been talking about up to 30% of people who survive it experiencing consequences. This study goes above that, stating that more than half do. This is a blow to those who tout the "natural immunity" earned from having the natural infection with the virus: the price to pay for it can be too steep. Best is to get the vaccine.

The investigators noted several trends among survivors, such as:

• General well-being: More than half of all patients reported weight loss, fatigue, fever or pain.
• Mobility: Roughly one in five survivors experienced a decrease in mobility.
• Neurologic concerns: Nearly one in four survivors experienced difficulty concentrating.
• Mental health disorders: Nearly one in three patients were diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorders.
• Lung abnormalities: Six in ten survivors had chest imaging abnormality and more than a quarter of patients had difficulty breathing.
• Cardiovascular issues: Chest pain and palpitations were among the commonly reported conditions.
• Skin conditions: Nearly one in five patients experienced hair loss or rashes.
• Digestive issues: Stomach pain, lack of appetite, diarrhea and vomiting were among the commonly reported conditions.

 

It is not the mortality but the morbidity that is the concern. I wager these long term effects are far worse in the ICU survivors most of whom will have long term organ damage

 

Yes, absolutely. The researchers have highlighted that the burden of caring for these long-term symptoms is likely to overwhelm health systems in mid- and low-income countries. Even in our developed countries, these syndromes will have a very significant economic impact, in terms of lost productivity, curtailed life span, and cost of care. I estimate that the economic damage will be several times higher than the damage caused by containment measures such as the lockdowns people whine so much about (which over here were brief).

This said, I'd say that mortality is also a concern; 744,385 people dead here in America (according to Worldometers) is the highest total for all infectious disease outbreaks in our history (even higher in absolute numbers than the 675,000 estimate for the Spanish Flu). But yes, this number is dwarfed by the morbidity numbers.

The mortality is even more painful when one realizes that at least a good 140,000 of these, according to this model (figures up to May 1st, likely many more by now), were avoidable if people had accepted the vaccine.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/vaccines-prevented-140000-covid-19-deaths-us

 

It's going to be back, and will kill even more of us if we don't do something about it.

And the first is vaccinate EVERYBODY. We need to eradicate this like we did with smallpox, or it's going to keep coming back over and over, like smallpox was getting ready do again when we destroyed it.

 

And loss of elders. (((((Sigh))) Our culture does not value age but where I live there is a large indigenous population and a combination of renal and cardiovascular disease means few are older than 65 (mortality rate is nearly 10 years under non-indigenous). I see the impact of loss of elders on community. Possibly this will be less impactful in the Nuclear family orientation of Western culture but only time will tell

America will be paying for this for many many years to come

 

I find it utterly unlikely that we will vaccinate 100% of people, due to the political factor. As we know, this pandemic has acquired a political status that has profoundly hurt containment and preventative efforts, and will continue to do so. I do not think that we'll get rid of it. It will remain endemic and will keep making seasonal comebacks.

I wish people realized that this is a public health nightmare, not a topic for political posturing and for use as a political banner. My hope that people will, is very small.

Even if we somehow, by miracle, achieved a vaccination rate close to 100%, the vaccines are not 100% effective and will need periodic boosters, so we're facing an uphill battle anyway.

However, if we were to have a very high percentage of vaccinated people + abundant home kits for rapid testing + effective antivirals to take by the mouth (one is coming, two more are in the pipeline) + monoclonal antibodies for the riskier patients, we might be able to significantly decrease mortality and morbidity, in a two-pronged approach: prevent as many cases as possible, and rapidly treat the ones we can't prevent, hitting the virus before it hits the organs.

 

Even Australia is saying we will have to learn to live with it - much like we have learnt to live with TB.

BTW New South Wales just hit 80% double vaccinated! Good on them!
The Northern Territory is not doing so good though but it is mostly desert with tiny groups scattered throughout and the vaccine requirements for cold storage have been nightmarish

 

Yes, I've seen lots of ageist posters here, basically implying, "who cares, most of the dead are old anyway." I come from a culture (Italy) that values the elders. Yes, losing all this accumulated wisdom is culturally and affectively a disaster.

 

I don't know which vaccines are approved in Australia, but some of the vaccines out there have very little cold storage needs, no? Novavax for example survives 6 months at 2 to 8 degrees centigrade. The same is valid for AstraZeneca.

I just looked, it does seem like you do have the AstraZeneca already approved, and an article i just consulted says that the Novavax's approval by the TGA is expected to happen by the end of 2021.

 

We should never forget that the largest reservoirs of plague remaining in the world are in prarie dog towns in the American Southwest.. This is the epidemiologist's nightmare, A return of the Black Death through a a weakened populace, like happened in 1348

 

What a statement from so called "doctor"
Knowing that vaccine does not prevent spread of disease he insist on totalitarian 100% vaccination, and then complains that COVID-19 is a political issue.

 

1 in 2, eh? And yet of all the covid survivors I personally know (at least 15 people) exactly NONE have these issues. I guess we're the luckiest group in the world. [insert eyes rolling here]