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| haxxiy said: I wonder how much of that boils down to epistemic feedback. That is to say, the experimenter interpreting information to conform to a hypothesis, and the subject suffering from the nocebo effect by virtue of being aware of a previous Covid-19 diagnosis. I'm not accusing anyone of deliberate systematic bias, mind you, just that such variables would be virtually impossible to exclude from the null hypothesis without a double-blind study (which is why these "long Covid" studies go anywhere from 0% to 100%, so this one is not even at the higher range). It looks like at least a few people develop a dysfunctional immune response that goes on to attack their own organs after the disease, but to that extent? I think the social and medical consequences would have been far more obvious during the last summer if that was the case, as opposed to deaths and medical appointments falling below the long-term average. |
A lot I guess. A lot of those symptoms are also present in people who never got covid, simply from the added stress, the effects of living in isolation and delayed access to medical care.
My wife still struggles with likely post covid symptoms (never confirmed she actually had it a year ago, but all signs point to it) however now she's been switched on different blood pressure medication (without warning, old manufacturer closed doors) she's been having chest pains ever since (one of the side effects of the new drug) and it's nearly impossible to get a doctor's appointment to sort things out (very low blood pressure in the morning, very high in the afternoon) Stress from online learning and stress about our youngest not coping all that well with being home from school for nearly a year now only piles on to it.
So where would she fall in a study like this. Loss of taste is still something she suffers from as well, now nearly a year later. She can't eat any meat anymore, no clue if that's related, but any meat products make her sick near instantly. Fish is still ok. What is from stress, what could be from lingering symptoms, what could be from a previous deadly infection she had, what is related to the change in medication.
It's still weeks before she can finally see a doctor (appointment made a month ago after ER visit after continuous calling the doctor with stroke level high blood pressure). Meanwhile one of her best friends has been diagnosed with lung cancer, almost a year to late due to covid, not being able to get in with problems nor checkups before that. And now needs emergency surgery to remove more than half of her left lung as step one.
The covid fallout and continually pushing the healthcare system past it limits has severe consequences.
Just checking the news right now
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/isolation-and-sanitation-during-covid-19-may-affect-human-microbiome-scientists-say-1.5317868
While it's important to follow public health orders to reduce spread of COVID-19, experts say that all the antibacterial wipes and physical distancing could have long-term impacts on our microbiomes
When we hug someone, travel to another country or get our hands dirty, we acquire new microbes, said Brett Finlay, a University of British Columbia microbiologist. Although some microbes can make us sick, others are good for us, and a diverse and rich microbiome is essential to our health, he said.
Finlay said the discovery of pasteurization in the late 1800s kicked off about a century of society being "hellbent" on getting rid of microbes, and infectious diseases declined as a result. But the loss of microbial diversity has been linked to conditions including asthma, obesity, diabetes and brain and cardiovascular diseases, he said.
All signs point to NZ and Australia having the right idea about handling the pandemic, zero tolerance. This song and dance we keep doing out here is causing more and more issues long term.
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