Long Covid Has Become a Parallel Pandemic

[ltlee1]

"The price of “living with Covid” in a free and open society is turning out to be much heftier than public health experts predicted.

Even with good vaccines and treatments, this year’s US death toll is already many orders of magnitude higher than that of the other virus that circulates each year, the flu. A terrible flu season kills about 50,000 people, but already more than 226,000 have died from Covid in 2022 — and even if another wave is avoided and fatalities remain at their current “low” level, another 150,000 lives could be lost over the next 12 months.

Then there’s the ballooning price of long Covid. Ongoing transmission, even if more like a slow burn than a raging fire, will mean the ranks of long-haulers will continue to grow. Long Covid has already pushed as many as 4 million people out of the workforce, according to a recent Brookings Institution report. As public concern over Covid fades, and funding dries up, it will become even harder to stem this parallel pandemic.

The government has put most of its resources behind solving the mystery of what causes long Covid. That’s essential work, but very little of it is devoted to studying how to treat and prevent long Covid. Covid long-haulers deserve better.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 5 people who contract the virus suffer lingering symptoms. Some slowly recover, but others find their quality of life drastically diminished for months or even years.

The only things that can get this parallel pandemic under control are better vaccines and treatments. But as society moves on from the emergency phase of the Covid pandemic, both may become more difficult."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/long-covid-has-become-a-parallel-pandemic/2022/10/01/c75b9dbc-4189-11ed-8c6e-9386bd7cd826_story.html

[stoney]

Long Covid does affect millions of people around the world, too. Wonder if this long covid is confined to Western vaccine?.

[bmoore]

No.

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/long-covid-wuhan-patients-still-have-symptoms-two-years-later

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/covid-19-vaccination-halves-risk-long-covid

[ltlee1]

"Long COVID is likely to cost the U.S. economy trillions of dollars and will almost certainly affect
multiple industries, from restaurants struggling to replace low-wage workers, to airlines scrambling
to replace crew, to overwhelmed hospitals, experts are predicting.

“There's a lot we need to do to understand what it takes to enable disabled people to participate
more in the economy,” says Katie Bach, a senior fellow with Brookings Institution and the author of
a study looking into long COVID’s impact on the labor market.

Data from June 2022 from the CDC shows that of the 40% of American adults who contracted COVID-
19, nearly 1 in 5 still have long COVID symptoms. That works out to 1 in 13, or 7.5%, of the overall U.S.
adult population.

Drawing from the CDC data, Bach estimates in her August 2022 report that as many 4 million working-
age Americans are too sick with long COVID to perform their jobs. That works out to as much as $230
billion in lost wages, or almost 1 percent of the U.S. GDP.

“This is a big deal,” she says. “We're talking potentially hundreds of billions of dollars a year and that
this is big enough to have a measurable impact on the labor market.”

Other sources have suggested lower figures, but the conclusions are the same: Long COVID is an urgent
issue that will cost tens of billions of dollars a year in lost wages alone, Bach says. But it’s not just lost
income for workers. There is a cost for businesses and the public.

Throughout the pandemic, COVID-19’s crippling force could be felt across multiple industries. While business
has picked up again, staffing shortages remain a challenge. At some airports this summer, air passengers
spent hours in security lines; were stranded for days as flights were canceled, rebooked, and canceled again
on short notice; and waited weeks for lost luggage. Restaurants have had to cut back their hours. Those
seeking medical care had longer than usual wait times in emergency departments and urgent care clinics.
Some ERs temporarily closed."

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20220928/long-covid-could-cost-economy-trillions-experts

[stoney]

This winter will be an eye opening for them to experience how many people will be infected, and whether it is for the first time or repeated. With 20% of the people already have long Covid, more will get to it. US does not care much about how many people will die from Covid or how many ended with long Covid. They let it nature to get rid of them, and determined them, too.

[stoney]

Two year on, 55% still reported symptoms showed that every two persons seen in the street or work place, there is one has symptom of long Covid. They are considered as chronic condition. 11% not able to return to work means one out of ten persons not at workplace. It will be deemed as part of unemployment rate.

[bmoore]

Yes a problem in all countries.

[stoney]

That means vaccine makers deliberately created a wicked health problem that destroys the mental health of people in all countries. They turned them to become moron.

[bmoore]

No.