Summary
Covid cases are surging across the U.S. post-holidays, with rising test positivity, hospitalizations, and deaths, while booster uptake remains low.
Only 21.4% of adults and 10.3% of children have received the latest booster, leaving vulnerable groups, including the elderly, at higher risk.
Experts warn of continued dangers from Covid, including long Covid and economic impacts, as the virus has not yet reached an endemic state.
With uncertain federal priorities, researchers stress the importance of monitoring infections, updating vaccines, and using preventive measures to mitigate future waves.
I got a booster in September as I was planning a trip to India, but I will say that thing knocked me on my fucking ass so much. As much as I believe in vaccination, it’s gonna be a hard sell to my brain to go back next year and get it again.
Whenever a vaccine kicks my butt like that I just tell myself “good job, having a strong immune reaction.” If the vaccine was that bad I imagine the real deal would be much worse, especially without the vaccine.
Also, my dad died of COVID pre-vaccine, so I’m taking the vaccine whenever it’s offered to me.
I know what you mean. Like, I understand that the vaccination is definitely worth taking. But feeling sick for a day after taking it saps the motivation to get it again. I want the vaccine, but it’s so much harder to organise getting it again after having a negative experience like that. (Note, I’ve have a few covid vaccinations; and only once did I feel sick for a day because of it.)
How is it not endemic yet? Oh wait the pharma companies aren’t done making money off it yet.
Flu is endemic yet millions get a flu shot every year. I’d rather the booster than the brain fog++, thanks.
I’ve never had a flu shot,
Good for you?
can’t imagine ever needing one,
Sounds like you don’t understand what they are or how they work
the effectiveness is super low too.
That’s wrong.
It just seems like another flu at this point. Which is why nobody cares
You might be right that it “seems” like that and that nobody cares, but it’s pretty terrifying IMO.
The symptoms, severity, and duration of long-COVID really suck.
There’s a growing body of research suggesting that long-COVID causes a significant reduction in brain tissue.
It’s one of those things were if you’re unlucky enough to get long covid and unlucky enough to get something severe out of it it really sucks, but also vast majority aren’t that unlucky so most aren’t that terrified of it.
And with how seemingly up to chance getting the whole covid is to begin with, it’s not something people are actively afraid of, imo for a reason since not much you can do, other than getting boosters maybe but even that doesn’t guarantee anything.
It’s absolutely fine if you and others aren’t concerned.
However, the study I linked says that more than 10% of Covid patients develop long covid. Of those cognitive impairment is measurable 141 days post-infection on average, and 26% show impairment after 9 months. We’re really not talking about a small portion of a small portion.
As discussed in the other publication I linked, the best way to mitigate your risk is with vaccinations.
Covid is going to end up being another cigarette situation.
People are going to ignore the “minor” risks for decades, then the long term population effects will kick in and cause massive social problems.
There’s going to be a lot of long term mental decline, heart disease, etc. That’s going to be tied to having had covid a dozen times. The science is already hinting at stacking permant damage.
Some very smart people are significantly concerned about this.
Get your fucking boosters people.
It is also drug companies, government, and media misrepresenting the abilities of the vaccine during lockdowns. I think a majority of the population find it hard to trust them after all the talk of 100 percent efficacy and once you get it we will all be safe.
Be honest about medicines and people will build trust in the system at some point but these low overall vaccination rates is shitty. I just had a kid and the amount of people telling me not to vaccinate was worrying and then having to comfort my wife because the amount of peer pressure and anecdotal stories made her anxious.
Yes, our child got everything and he is well.
Edit: Adding a couple of sources and spelling. I also am in support of getting all vaccines, just stating that these things happened and has fueled the confusion and mistrust of a large percentage of the public.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/31/health/pfizer-vaccine-adolescent-trial-results/index.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoBSTEFKmDw (Biden saying you won’t get covid although I understand he has no idea what is going on…) https://nypost.com/2021/04/02/cdc-walks-back-claim-that-vaccinated-people-cant-carry-covid/ Rachel Maddow from MSNBC “The virus stops with every vaccinated person…”
Not true. No body ever claimed 100% effectiveness. Effectiveness claims were never once shown to be dishonest or incorrect, though they were often misinterpreted. Vaccine effectiveness also went down as the virus mutated and the formulations had to play catch-up. Even so, they were always highly effective (not 100%) at preventing hospitalization and death.
What fucked up the communication was a boatload of misinformation and distortions from the usual right wing conspiracy theory sources.
The vaccines were effective, but not at the high levels shown under laboratory conditions.
The virus mutated. Vials were not transported at -70°C.
I reckon polio is a good analogy. That illness doesn’t seem so bad at first. Mild symptoms (or no symptoms at all), seems like you get better. It’s much worse in a small number of cases - potentially causing paralysis and death. But a big issue is post-polio syndrome, which surfaces many years later in a large percentage of people.
fatigue is often the most disabling symptom; even slight exertion often produces disabling fatigue […]
Covid is a bit like that. Most people who get it feel pretty rotten for a few days, and then its apparently over. But we’ve seen that for some people, covid causes permanent brain injuries resulting in chronic exhaustion and brain-fog. It’s unclear precisely how common this this, but we know that repeated exposure increases the risk.
I had never heard of post polio syndrome before… probably because we eradicated it here with vaccines.
Alas, RFK incoming - we will get to see how low these numbers actually can go, once we have aggressive anti-vax policy from the top-down.
I imagine he’ll cut as much funding for vaccines as he can, maybe making vaccines something insurance companies won’t/can’t cover, etc.
What’s the actual motivation for that though?
Does he genuinely believe that vaccines are actually more harmful than beneficial?
I can imagine why an individual might be hesitant to have a vaccination, but it’s obvious that populations are more productive when everyone is vaccinated.
Indeed.
We recently learned that covid causes neurons to fuse. This suggests that over time, a society that doesn’t take precautions against spreading it will become stupider and develop a significantly higher rate of mental and/or physical disorders.
We don’t know how that will take shape, of course, but it reminds me of the prevalence of lead (e.g. from leaded gasoline) through a big chunk of the 20th century, and the corresponding IQ decline and violent crime rise among generations who spent much of their lives exposed to it.
I will endlessly repeat this.
Do you folks remember when US schools opened back up?
Because I do. I remember entire classrooms where every single student was positive. I remember kids getting consecutive infections and the suburbanite Karens in my workplace talking about their kids 5th covid infection in 2 months as if it was no big deal.
I know I’m preaching to the choir, however I cannot stress enough how much COVID fucks you up long term.
As you stated, brain inflammation, chronic pain, literally being significantly, measurably, and noticeably stupider for the rest of your life… and look at how those kids turned out.
I couldn’t imagine a better killer for the most evil empire that human civilization has ever produced.
wasn’t the impact on kids minimal?
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2023/10/children-covid.html?t
“For almost every infectious disease, the most vulnerable populations are at the extremes of age — the very young and the very old,” said Stanford Medicine professor of microbiology and immunology and of pathology Bali Pulendran, PhD. “But with COVID-19, the young are spared while the old are emphatically not. That’s been a mystery.”
Yeah, having never had covid, I definitely notice a lot of friends and family around me seeming to struggle mentally with stuff they used to be good at. And some of them physically, too. It has had a pretty noticeable cost already with most of them only getting it 1-3 times so far. If it keeps being around and adding up and people keep thinking of it as not a big deal, I can’t imagine how much more it’s going to affect them in 5-10 years.
So far, none of them have even gotten the specific effects necessary for a “long covid” label, but it has clearly done something.
I don’t see any stats in the article about the “serge”, and the source linked by the article only offers a weeks snapshot and last week’s #.
ER diagnosis are at 2.1%, up from 1.9% the week before. Not sure that counts as a serge, especially since for all I know that’s within the margin of error.
Anybody have better stats?
