3 ms·
These four observations sound like a Rorschach test. If one thinks “long COVID” is imaginary, one can read these facts as confirmation of placebo effects or ma
by Terretta 4y ago
These four observations sound like a Rorschach test.
If one thinks “long COVID” is imaginary, one can read these facts as confirmation of placebo effects or mass sociogenic illness.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_psychogenic_illness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_psychogenic_illness
Or, if one thinks it’s plausible, each can be read the other way, for instance:
>> long-term COVID symptoms are much more prevalent among women, adults under 65, Hispanics and Latinos, and non–college graduates than among other demographic groups
OK, so groups least likely to choose to isolate, or be able to isolate (because they have to work).
>> Second, COVID "long haulers" cite specific physical and cognitive impairments commonly associated with the condition in media and medical reporting.
Put another way, reporting and media sound like what people cite.
>> Third, the share of working-age adults reporting serious difficulty remembering, concentrating, or making decisions has risen steadily since the start of the pandemic.
Condition attributed to a disease known to be experienced by a steadily increasing population share, steadily increases share reporting — confirmed!
>> Fourth, growing shares of women and of non–college graduates report simultaneously (i) being out of the labor force due to disability and (ii) experiencing these cognitive difficulties.
So these go together, and see #1 — everything is as expected.
Remarkable how simultaneously contradictory all four interpretations can be, almost as if crafted to be so.
- hn_throwaway_99 4y agoTo emphasize, though, and the point I was trying to make is that it's possible (and I think likely) that both of these statements are true: 1. Long COVID is a real disease that can cause debilitating symptoms. 2. A significant number of people who claim to suffer from Long COVID actually suffer from something else. The only thing that puts me more in the "I think #2 is a lot more prevalent than people think" camp is the astronomical amount of press that "Long COVID" has received, coupled with the fact that the majority of people in the US have been exposed to COVID, so it's easy to attribute any general feeling of being unwell (e.g. fatigue, brain fog, etc.) to the fact that you probably had COVID in the not-too-distant past.
- mlyle 4y agoI don't disagree with you. Even so: it's possible for most of it to be "not real" or "something else"-- but still carry a terrifically high disease burden.
- edejong 4y agoI would be in camp #2 as well, was it not that we are discovering tests showing evidence of Long COVID. See for example this blog from a long hauler: https://mylongcoviddiaries.medium.com/i-finally-have-a-diagnosis-for-long-covid-and-its-shocking-82ddcb214656 https://mylongcoviddiaries.medium.com/i-finally-have-a-diagn... There seems to be evidence that tiny blood clots are causing the wide variety of symptoms. https://worldfreedomalliance.org/au/news/could-tiny-blood-clots-cause-long-covids-puzzling-symptoms/ https://worldfreedomalliance.org/au/news/could-tiny-blood-cl...