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Need to Know: Science & Insight,
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So I was infected with Covid a month ago despite being ultra careful and triple vaxxed. It was likely the latest variant, Omicron BA.2, which is the most transmissible yet. BA.2 is way better than the flu at infecting people. Unfortunately, it’s health impacts are worse than the flu.
(Whoops. New variant just detected: XE. It is 10% more transmissible than BA.2. estimates The World Health Organization.)
Need to Know 1: The Three Systemic Failures in handling the pandemic
Governments only focus on the short term: Getting through the next few weeks without a major crisis.
Public Health departments also have a short term focus on preventing the medical system from being overwhelmed.
Global vaccine inequity —Just 12% of the population of low-income countries have received at least one dose.
[We need to push our leaders to do a better job of protecting all of us.]
The health impacts from getting infected with Covid are far less for a majority of people with three vaccine doses in their arms.
Need to Know 2: Vaccines don’t prevent infections. They dramatically reduce the odds of getting really sick or suffering from long-Covid.
Need to Know 3: A fully-vaccinated person can have the virus multiplying away in their bodies and have no symptoms but are able to infect others for at least a week.
Need to Know 4: You can be re-infected a few weeks after the last infection. Some people have had Covid three or four times in the past two years.Past infection does not confer 100% immunity.
I’m 95% recovered after three weeks of mild symptoms: fever, extreme fatigue, and mild brain fog. However, I still don’t have my former energy or concentration levels.
There are scores of vaccinated healthy people—athletes even —whose bodies have been devastated and suffer long-term impacts from a Covid infection: Kidneys ruined; lungs and heart damaged, brain cells turned into mush. It’s a nasty disease that can disrupt connective tissue anywhere in your body.
An analogy:
IF your body was a city, Covid is a disease that attacks all the concrete and asphalt.
Getting infected is like playing Russian roulette. You have no idea what an infection will do to you. It’s all about odds. Vaccinated have very good odds that an infection will be mild and short term. Unvaccinated have bad odds. For the unvaccinated and over 80 years old, it is a potential death sentence.
While Omicron variants are less deadly than Delta, we don’t know if Omicron is worse or better when it comes to long-Covid.
Long-Covid complications are much more diverse, severe, and long-lasting than in any prior pandemic. Covid is not only causing common post-infection illness as the flu sometimes does, but also affects the brain, heart, kidneys, digestive, and nervous systems in a broader population, worldwide. It increases the odds of becoming diabetic, or suffering from heart disease multiple studies show. Other studies now show tissue damage to the brain and other organs.
Need to Know 5: About 30% of people infected have long-Covid complications according to the latest data. Unvaccinated people have a far higher chance of suffering from long-Covid.
Long-Covid can be devastating for individuals.
Need to Know 6: Long-Covid has staggering implications for global health systems and will have serious socio-economic repercussions for years to come. There are no effective treatments. There isn’t even much research.
No one has come to grips with what is becoming a major health issue.
In the meantime do all you can to prevent getting infected or re-infected. Here's an updated version of my COVID SHIELD tips:
1. Get vaccinated and boosted
2. Wear an N95 mask in public indoors
3. Use rapid tests for safe socializing
4. Outdoors is safer but not safe
5. Get an HEPA air filter
6. Let local case rates determine your activities.*
*Governments have dramatically reduced testing so actual population-level infection rates are being estimated using wastewater measurements. Better than nothing.
A 4th vaccine dose is now available for those over 50 in the U.S. and a few other countries. Any one with health issues should look into getting it as well. Vaccines lose their effectiveness over time — 12% decline four months after 3d dose; 35% to 50% after 5 months according to one study. There is some debate about 4th booster’s effectiveness but with all things Covid, there will not be a 100% clear answer.
I’ll be getting a 4th dose when I can.
Until next time, be well.
Stephen