3 ms·

I’ve had COVID multiple times — I collect variants like Pokémon cards. The first one (pre-vaccine!) was nasty with a few lingering effects that went away after

I’ve had COVID multiple times — I collect variants like Pokémon cards. The first one (pre-vaccine!) was nasty with a few lingering effects that went away after a month, the last was asymptomatic. In everyone I know that has had multiple infections — which is a lot of people these days — subsequent infections are much less consequential than the last, including lingering effects. This is what you would generally expect. It doesn’t follow that reinfection means everyone is going to get disabling long COVID eventually, especially if they weren’t susceptible the first couple times around. At least part of the reason most people don’t care about COVID much anymore is that (1) almost everyone has had it at this point and (2) if you survived the first one, there is ample empirical evidence that subsequent infections don’t have the same potential consequences so there is much less to worry about. This appears to be priced into most peoples’ view of COVID policy these days.

ImHereToVote 4y ago
Looks like we got a reader. What are you reading for?
seydor 4y ago
The studies tell the opposite. A large study in US veterans found increased risk in 2 and 3 times reinfected, including death https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/repeat-covid-is-riskier-than-first-infection-study-finds-2022-11-10/ https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/... > Reinfected patients had a more than doubled risk of death and a more than tripled risk of hospitalization compared with those who were infected with COVID just once. They also had elevated risks for problems with lungs, heart, blood, kidneys, diabetes, mental health, bones and muscles, and neurological disorders > priced into most peoples’ view of COVID I 'm curious who this view is formed. Is it hearsay? Because there's probably no empirical data supporting that view
- dham 4y ago
  From article: > Experts not involved with the study said the VA population does not reflect the general population. > Patients at VA health facilities are generally older, sicker people and often men, a group that would typically have more than normal health complications, said John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.
- jandrewrogers 4y ago
  The VA is almost nothing but old sick people, the demographic most susceptible to serious COVID. Fortunately, most of the population isn't old sick people. The study you reference isn't relevant to conversations about the general population. The view that risk from subsequent infections is negligible is informed by the fact that vast numbers of people have had subsequent infections, including most of the people they know. Personal experience around this is widely discussed socially, so there is a broad consensus that their personal experience was normal and not an outlier. I live in progressive urban enclaves, so if these people are all misinformed then your cause is lost. Constantly misrepresenting the science around COVID and fear-mongering over things that are manifestly not the case discredits the people that promote that, which runs the very real risk of causing people to dismiss the real risks of COVID. We already went down this road with climate change, where chronic gross misrepresentation of the science in popular media caused people to dismiss the actual and serious risks associated with climate change. Disasturbation may be fun but it is a terrible way to convince the broader population that a category of risk needs to be taken seriously.
  - seydor 4y ago
    things cant be 'manifestly not the case' without evidence
    - tbrownaw 4y ago
      https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 > Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft: randomized controlled trial > Conclusions Parachute use did not reduce death or major traumatic injury when jumping from aircraft in the first randomized evaluation of this intervention. However, the trial was only able to enroll participants on small stationary aircraft on the ground, suggesting cautious extrapolation to high altitude jumps. When beliefs regarding the effectiveness of an intervention exist in the community, randomized trials might selectively enroll individuals with a lower perceived likelihood of benefit, thus diminishing the applicability of the results to clinical practice.
  - Animats 4y ago
Auracle 4y ago
I have a really crappy immune system - colds usually last three weeks for me. That said, my delta infection was probably 95% as bad as my infection with the original strain. Both times I had a fever of over 102f for about two weeks. Again, though, I’m unique. Go me.

ImHereToVote 4y ago

Looks like we got a reader. What are you reading for?

seydor 4y ago

The studies tell the opposite. A large study in US veterans found increased risk in 2 and 3 times reinfected, including death https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/repeat-covid-is-riskier-than-first-infection-study-finds-2022-11-10/ https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/... > Reinfected patients had a more than doubled risk of death and a more than tripled risk of hospitalization compared with those who were infected with COVID just once. They also had elevated risks for problems with lungs, heart, blood, kidneys, diabetes, mental health, bones and muscles, and neurological disorders > priced into most peoples’ view of COVID I 'm curious who this view is formed. Is it hearsay? Because there's probably no empirical data supporting that view

dham 4y ago
From article: > Experts not involved with the study said the VA population does not reflect the general population. > Patients at VA health facilities are generally older, sicker people and often men, a group that would typically have more than normal health complications, said John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.
jandrewrogers 4y ago
The VA is almost nothing but old sick people, the demographic most susceptible to serious COVID. Fortunately, most of the population isn't old sick people. The study you reference isn't relevant to conversations about the general population. The view that risk from subsequent infections is negligible is informed by the fact that vast numbers of people have had subsequent infections, including most of the people they know. Personal experience around this is widely discussed socially, so there is a broad consensus that their personal experience was normal and not an outlier. I live in progressive urban enclaves, so if these people are all misinformed then your cause is lost. Constantly misrepresenting the science around COVID and fear-mongering over things that are manifestly not the case discredits the people that promote that, which runs the very real risk of causing people to dismiss the real risks of COVID. We already went down this road with climate change, where chronic gross misrepresentation of the science in popular media caused people to dismiss the actual and serious risks associated with climate change. Disasturbation may be fun but it is a terrible way to convince the broader population that a category of risk needs to be taken seriously.
- seydor 4y ago
  things cant be 'manifestly not the case' without evidence
  - tbrownaw 4y ago
    https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 > Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft: randomized controlled trial > Conclusions Parachute use did not reduce death or major traumatic injury when jumping from aircraft in the first randomized evaluation of this intervention. However, the trial was only able to enroll participants on small stationary aircraft on the ground, suggesting cautious extrapolation to high altitude jumps. When beliefs regarding the effectiveness of an intervention exist in the community, randomized trials might selectively enroll individuals with a lower perceived likelihood of benefit, thus diminishing the applicability of the results to clinical practice.
- Animats 4y ago

Auracle 4y ago

I have a really crappy immune system - colds usually last three weeks for me. That said, my delta infection was probably 95% as bad as my infection with the original strain. Both times I had a fever of over 102f for about two weeks. Again, though, I’m unique. Go me.