We are certainly better off than we were in 2020 and 2021, but covid is definitely not a nothingburger.
BNO News on Twitter:
"So far this year, more than 3.1 million cases of COVID have been reported in the U.S., causing 271,780 hospitalizations and 27,460 deaths."
And we will continue to pay for the consequences of treating it as such as a society in healthcare costs, long-term health problems, loss of work, loss of education, disablement and death both of children and adults so long as we keep treating it like a nothingburger.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.06.23293706v1
"...Results 18.2% (n=2,130) of respondents met case definition for Long COVID. Female sex, being 50-69 years of age, pre-existing health issues, residing in a rural or remote area, and receiving fewer vaccine doses were significant independent predictors of Long COVID (p < 0.05). Persons with Long COVID reported a median of 6 symptoms, most commonly fatigue (70.6%) and difficulty concentrating (59.6%); 38.2% consulted a GP and 1.6% reported hospitalisation in the month prior to the survey due to ongoing symptoms. Of 1,778 respondents with Long COVID who were working/studying before their COVID-19 diagnosis, 17.9% reported reducing/discontinuing work/study.
Conclusion 90 days post Omicron infection, almost 1 in 5 respondents reported Long COVID symptoms; 1 in 15 of all persons with COVID-19 sought healthcare for associated health concerns >=2 months after the acute illness.
The known The prevalence of Long COVID varies widely across studies conducted in diverse settings globally (range: 9%-81%).
The new In a highly vaccinated population (94% with >=3 vaccine doses), almost 20% of persons infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant reported symptoms consistent with Long COVID 90 days post diagnosis. Long COVID was associated with sustained negative impacts on work/study and a substantial utilisation of GP services 2-3 months after the acute illness; however, ED presentations and hospitalisations for Long COVID were rare...."
There are more and more studies coming out every day showing that covid wrecks our immune system, attacks our internal organs, and can hide inside us continuing to cause damage via inflammation for a very long time after we've been infected. Long Covid is a lottery. If you're unvaccinated, your chances of winning that lottery happen by the 3rd infection on average (no surprise we have a shortage of health care workers) and if you're well-vaccinated, somewhere around 10 infections is your likely number.
Then there are those who are immune compromised, like my daughter. Dropping covid monitoring will make it impossible for them and their family members to go anywhere safely if they lose all the monitoring data that informs their daily decisions to participate in community life, or simply fetch milk from the grocery store. They are back to placing orders, hunkering down at home, and asking everyone to test before they visit.
Trust me, the health departments in my state gave up monitoring covid long ago. We're about to fly blind.
But I guess it's just no big deal.
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