Paul Cantrell
More alarming news here about the long-term effects of COVID.
One hopeful asterisk to this study: if I’m reading it correctly, the infections in question were all May 2021 or earlier. We have many indications that clinical outcomes from Omicron are better than those earlier variants, and we can hope that’s true for loss of brain mass as well.
Still, scary stuff.
From @augieray:
https://mastodon.social/@augieray/110123305769171584
Paul Cantrell
@egnor @augieray
Yes, nobody here is dismissing anything. I took great pains to make that clear in my original post. That is why I used the word “scary.”
It is also important to find hope when that hope is well-founded. We do have good reason, rooted in research, to be hopeful that Omicron and vaccination are mitigating the terrible health effects of Covid. Not to •rely• on that, but to be •hopeful.• I do believe that it is possible to be both prudent and hopeful at the same time.
Augie Ray
@egnor @inthehands While all of that is true, it drives me crazy people will discount studies because of this. It take 12-18 months to conduct a study, and COVID is evolving rapidly. By the time we know what today's variants cause, it'll be 2025. Instead of finding reasons to dismiss any one study, pay attention to the 200+ studies that have found chronic health impairment following COVID infection. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12VbMkvqUF9eSggJsdsFEjKs5x0ABxQJi5tvfzJIDd3U/edit?usp=sharing
egnor
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be dismissive of these very concerning reports, just discussing the fine points of what this one does and doesn't account for.
Useful spreadsheet!
egnor
@inthehands @augieray also, vaccination status at time of infection is unclear
Paul Cantrell
@egnor @augieray
There’s been a steady parade of tentative but promising results suggesting better medical outcomes for Omicron, particularly vs Delta. This one just a few weeks ago was news: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/981916 (I don’t have a polished list handy, but there are more.)
Important to note that •safer• is not the same as •safe•; medical risks still abound w/current variants. It’s not over. But I’m comfortable saying it’s better now than it was 3 years ago.
egnor
@inthehands @augieray
I'm not sure Omicron is that much less harmful than other variant phyla (controlling for vaccination rates), but maybe you found some research to the contrary?
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