COVID Omicron Updates

Vaccination does not necessarily protect against Long COVID

Perhaps the most terrifying study is from Oxford University, which examined the effects of vaccination on long COVID symptoms, because not only did it find that vaccination does not protect against Long Covid, but that Long Covid symptoms become more likely over time:
(40/🧵) pic.twitter.com/rFwvTImnSR

— Ian Ricksecker 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇪🇺🌍 (@IanRicksecker) January 5, 2022

“[V]accination does not appear to be protective against .. long-COVID features, arrhythmia, joint pain, type 2 diabetes, liver disease, sleep disorders, and mood and anxiety disorders.” Pre-print study from Oxford University

Sounds like getting 2+ shots does protect against some things though 💪

But if you’re counting on vaccination to feel safe, there’s even more bad news.

A study of Israel healthcare workers found that “Most breakthrough cases were mild or asymptomatic, although 19% had persistent symptoms (>6 weeks).”
(39/🧵)
Bergwerk et al https://t.co/FiYxDYXejj

— Ian Ricksecker 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇪🇺🌍 (@IanRicksecker) January 5, 2022

Caveat: Nature says Long COVID studies should include controls to confirm causation which many do not

Frankly I’m a little 👀 at anyone who’s denying that Long COVID is a real thing at this point, especially given that it’s more prevalent in women and women’s health concerns have a long history of being dismissed.

Tons of people with mild COVID will get Long COVID in some form

The CoVHORT study, limited to non-hospitalized patients in Arizona – “mild” cases – found a 68% prevalence of 1 or more Covid symptom after 30 days, rising to 77% after 60 days. (We will explore an explanation later).
(5/🧵)
Bell et al, https://t.co/HfO52eYxyO

— Ian Ricksecker 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇪🇺🌍 (@IanRicksecker) January 5, 2022

Congressional attending physician estimates that even 3+ shot mild cases could lead to 6-12 months of Long COVID disability – “A “reasonable estimate” is that 6% to 10% of cases could end up that way”

Long COVID really sucks:

POTUS is wrongly reinforcing the idea that when you get COVID you’ll either be hospitalized/die or you’ll have a “mild” case.#LongCovid friends – what was your “mild” case like?

— Hannah Davis (@ahandvanish) August 4, 2021

COVID deaths are being under-counted

Indiana life insurance CEO says deaths are up 40% among people ages 18-64

“And what we saw just in third quarter, we’re seeing it continue into fourth quarter, is that death rates are up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic,” [Davison] said.

“Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a one-in-200-year catastrophe would be 10% increase over pre-pandemic,” he said. “So 40% is just unheard of.”

Shifting from pandemic to endemic means deciding on an acceptable number of deaths

In the beginning of any pandemic, we have 4 options for what could happen:

1) continually occurring disease, with small or large surges
2) local elimination of disease
3) global eradication of disease
4) complete extinction of the pathogen pic.twitter.com/7ggTAIpdMs

— Dr Ellie Murray, ScD (@EpiEllie) October 1, 2021

So here’s the kicker: “endemic” doesn’t mean “never think about covid again”. It’s exactly the opposite!

Endemic means someone is ALWAYS thinking about covid.

Endemic means public health is always monitoring disease & always intervening when cases cross the “acceptable” level. pic.twitter.com/tO6KQtAZfp

— Dr Ellie Murray, ScD (@EpiEllie) October 1, 2021