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.

  • BlameThePeacock
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    139
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    4 days ago

    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.

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-risky-are-repeat-covid-infections-what-we-know-so-far/

    Some very smart people are significantly concerned about this.

    Get your fucking boosters people.

    • blind3rdeye@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      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.

        • GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 days ago

          Post polio syndrome hits people that contracted polio in the first place just 30+ years later. So you not hearing about it has more to do with you not knowing people that contracted polio than it’s eradication.

    • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      40
      ·
      edit-2
      3 days ago

      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.

      • SoJB@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        22
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        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.

        • ikt@aussie.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          2 days ago

          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.”

    • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      3 days ago

      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.

      • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        3 days ago

        I’ve had it three times. My wife has had it five. I can’t put my finger on anything but I’m definitely not as sharp as I was. People started up a game of scattergories on new year’s. I used to play it all the time 20 years ago. This was a new version.

        I couldn’t think. Now I had several beers and champagne and a joint by this point, but it was really upsetting. I can’t think like I used to. It could just be age.

    • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      3 days ago

      Every time you get Covid, you can lose several IQ points. It will be this generation’s leaded gasoline.

    • redplayer5@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      22
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      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…”

      • Tinidril@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 days ago

        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.