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The CDC director and other country health ministers have started to publicly recognize long covid recently. The government is trying to get ahead of the accessi

The CDC director and other country health ministers have started to publicly recognize long covid recently. The government is trying to get ahead of the accessibility challenges of potentially life-saving/reversing drugs too: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/12/14/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-dozens-of-pharma-companies-raised-prices-faster-than-inflation-triggering-medicare-rebates/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases... > The Administration is focused on making sure medications developed with taxpayer funds are available to Americans at reasonable prices. > In September 2023, ASPR finalized a Project NextGen contract agreement for a potentially life-saving COVID-19 treatment being developed by Regeneron stating if the product is commercialized, its list price in the United States will be equal to or less than its retail price in comparable global markets. The big problem is 100% public perception. We have as a country failed miserably to further message the pandemic's second-order consequences. We need courageous public leaders to message this public health crisis in terms that will get through to people: i.e. economics, productivity, and the anguish of other human beings. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/cutler/files/long_covid_update_7-22.pdf https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/cutler/files/long_covid_up... The https://johnsnowproject.org/ https://johnsnowproject.org/ has been a voice of reason here. We can go further with other innovations like far-UV lights. https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/new-type-ultraviolet-light-makes-indoor-air-safe-outdoors https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/new-type-ultraviolet-lig... I believe Physics Girl is going to make a video on long covid or post-acute infection syndromes soon. Hopefully that can help bring additional awareness here.

btbuildem 3y ago
I didn't mean to sound so hopeless -- you're right, there are people pushing in the right direction. But as you say, public health officials and elected leaders have by and large dropped the ball, stabbed it a bunch of times, and threw the deflated remnants down an abandoned mine shaft. All it took was some clever targeted manipulation of the most susceptible people and the weak spines / weathercock nature of politicians. We knew back in 2020 that LC is a thing, and what the treatments could look like [1]. Researchers at the time likened it to HIV, and did so with the treatments as well (a cocktail of antivirals). 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/health/coronavirus-immune-system.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/health/coronavirus-immune...
- thenerdhead 3y ago
  I'm giving the government the benefit of the doubt. They have done some good things generally speaking (RECOVER, NIH budget re-allocation($200m), limiting profits of nextgen drugs, etc). They have done some dumb things too like calling the pandemic over, FDA limiting all use of life-reversing covid therapeutics due to "new variants", and allowing the first-gen covid therapeutics to be priced on the market (look how ridiculous paxlovid is for example or any recent vaccine). I would not be surprised to see the CDC or NIH director, or even the president come out to talk about the elephant in the room early next year. While actions speak louder than words, I think many afflicted humans want to hear the words part too.

btbuildem 3y ago

I didn't mean to sound so hopeless -- you're right, there are people pushing in the right direction. But as you say, public health officials and elected leaders have by and large dropped the ball, stabbed it a bunch of times, and threw the deflated remnants down an abandoned mine shaft. All it took was some clever targeted manipulation of the most susceptible people and the weak spines / weathercock nature of politicians. We knew back in 2020 that LC is a thing, and what the treatments could look like [1]. Researchers at the time likened it to HIV, and did so with the treatments as well (a cocktail of antivirals). 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/health/coronavirus-immune-system.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/health/coronavirus-immune...

thenerdhead 3y ago
I'm giving the government the benefit of the doubt. They have done some good things generally speaking (RECOVER, NIH budget re-allocation($200m), limiting profits of nextgen drugs, etc). They have done some dumb things too like calling the pandemic over, FDA limiting all use of life-reversing covid therapeutics due to "new variants", and allowing the first-gen covid therapeutics to be priced on the market (look how ridiculous paxlovid is for example or any recent vaccine). I would not be surprised to see the CDC or NIH director, or even the president come out to talk about the elephant in the room early next year. While actions speak louder than words, I think many afflicted humans want to hear the words part too.