2 ms·

Well, actually there has been a Scripps paper out there since August. It's abstracted here, but it depends on whether you believe 'ground glass' abnormalities i

by kurthr 6y ago

Well, actually there has been a Scripps paper out there since August. It's abstracted here, but it depends on whether you believe 'ground glass' abnormalities in lungs represent destruction. Certainly, it seems like some "asymptomatic" and many mild to moderate cases of COVID cause loss of lung function, which could be permanent (e.g. equivalent to having a history of pneumonia). That could be enough to make you no-longer able to compete at a professional level in sports. I personally know that a major research hospital is doing (unpublished) research on medium to long term effects of mild-moderate COVID (non-hospitalized) on lung function and that the initial radiological results 3-6mo after symptoms are fairly shocking to those running the study. So there is at least some published evidence from multiple sources and there continues to be study on this and based on the known action of the disease. Covid "long-termers" do also come from mild-moderate and perhaps even "asymptomatic" cases so I'm not sure FUD really makes sense here. https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200811/asymptomatic-covid-silent-but-maybe-not-harmless https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200811/asymptomatic-covid-... https://www.uchealth.com/en/media-room/covid-19/short-and-long-term-lung-damage-from-covid-19 https://www.uchealth.com/en/media-room/covid-19/short-and-lo... p.s. these articles were trivial to find and are in no way exhaustive.

40four 6y ago
Fair enough. I read a couple of similar articles before this, but maybe I'm ignorant on the current science. I'll check the links out in more detail. But honestly a quick look at the WebMD link was not very convincing. They cite two studies from China in April of last year. One study had 16 participants, the other had 4. 20 people total studies between the two. Not really enough for any of us to make any claims with confidence. WebMD article says, "Nobody knows exactly what those changes mean yet or whether they will persist and form scar tissue or simply heal and go away after the infection is gone." I'm not saying we shouldn't be cautious. But in my opinion, if a person was truly asymptomatic then they weren't really sick. If it affected them so little that they weren't ever aware they had the virus, it seems like a stretch to believe that they would have permanent, debilitating damage. It's in the realm of possibility, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. It's unfortunate asymptomatic people still carry the virus & spread it around. But is that quality really unique to Covid-19? I doubt it. I suspect it's probably a quality of many diseases and sicknesses that we just didn't fully appreciate before. How many people every year carry around the common cold or the flu with no symptoms, and end up spreading it around. Probably a lot. I'll concede that it's possible to still be harmed by Covid, even if you have very few or no symtpoms. Maybe my gripe is that I'm just exhausted from hearing talk of Covid as if it has 'magical' properties that we all need to be afraid of.

by kurthr 6y ago

40four 6y ago

Fair enough. I read a couple of similar articles before this, but maybe I'm ignorant on the current science. I'll check the links out in more detail. But honestly a quick look at the WebMD link was not very convincing. They cite two studies from China in April of last year. One study had 16 participants, the other had 4. 20 people total studies between the two. Not really enough for any of us to make any claims with confidence. WebMD article says, "Nobody knows exactly what those changes mean yet or whether they will persist and form scar tissue or simply heal and go away after the infection is gone." I'm not saying we shouldn't be cautious. But in my opinion, if a person was truly asymptomatic then they weren't really sick. If it affected them so little that they weren't ever aware they had the virus, it seems like a stretch to believe that they would have permanent, debilitating damage. It's in the realm of possibility, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. It's unfortunate asymptomatic people still carry the virus & spread it around. But is that quality really unique to Covid-19? I doubt it. I suspect it's probably a quality of many diseases and sicknesses that we just didn't fully appreciate before. How many people every year carry around the common cold or the flu with no symptoms, and end up spreading it around. Probably a lot. I'll concede that it's possible to still be harmed by Covid, even if you have very few or no symtpoms. Maybe my gripe is that I'm just exhausted from hearing talk of Covid as if it has 'magical' properties that we all need to be afraid of.