What covid can do

[NotReadyForAutumnYet]

Saw this thread and thought it might be helpful to some who want to understand a bit of what covid can do, especially as for whatever reasons there seems a push to minimise it.

x.com/raffyflynnart/status/1711128755563905527?s=46&t=G9BWOZlYGPa1_pR7aKkbHQ

I saw that too . The British Heart foundation article is very sobering especially since a close relative and my oldest friend both have chronic heart issues as a result of Covid . We don’t even know the long term effects yet either ( like for example we know some viruses cause cancer ) .

sadly we seem hell bent on finding out the hard way . The minimisers have the narrative that it’s that or restrictions whilst ignoring a middle way . We could offer a wider booster programme & clean our air in schools & hospitals for example without impacting day to day life .

Sorry to hear about your relative and your friend. Agree with what you've said. Honest messaging would go a long way too. If policy is so proportionate, why the need to minimise?

Terrible. But we can’t avoid catching it, so what’s the point of worrying about what it does? Virtually everyone has had it.

The dishonesty from our government on this is mind blowing.

In my social group we have seen heart damage, blood clots, brain fog, liver damage, serious gum recession, type 2 diabetes, neurological changes and arthritis, all confirmed by drs to be a direct result of covid.

It is an inflammatory disease - if you have an inflammatory condition, covid will make it worse.
If you were on the road to an inflammatory disease, covid will trigger it to develop sooner.
If you were otherwise healthy, your risk of developing an inflammatory disease are now much higher.

We are only at the beginning of understanding what this virus does to us.

When we do have the full picture it will be a global scandal that we went back to ‘normal’ and encouraged such a blasé attitude when it comes to being infected, that we see now.

Many of the people who dismiss it as no worse than a cold won’t understand what it’s done to them for years yet.

As to a PP on what we can do - if you have symptoms test. Stay indoors if positive. Wear masks in enclosed spaces when transmission is high.
If you aren’t bothered about spreading it, at least reduce your own risk of catching it as much as you can.

I think that some people genuinely think that it's just like a cold and it's helpful to be aware. There are those that won't care and will not alter any behaviour, but there will be those that do. That could well save someone's job or a child becoming disabled or just break more chains of transmission. Honest messaging allows people to make a more honest choice. Given the roll of the dice with each infection, less covid is surely a good thing.

As a PP has said, there are things we can do. We can also address indoor air - we may not be able to update these at the expense government has gone to to improve their indoor air - parliament, DfE, MoD etc. However, even cheap HEPA filters in schools have been shown to reduce absence from illness, improve concentration and help asthma.

That's a bit fatalistic I think. We can still avoid catching it more times than we have to and damage seems to be cumulative if you get covid lots of times.

We're all going to catch old age too, but we aren't completely fatalistic about it. We know what some of the nastiest things are (diabetes, heart disease, dementia) and so we find things we can do that make them less likely.

Opening windows for good ventilation and wearing a mask on the tube can be a bit of a faff sometimes, but a bit like forcing yourself out for a daily walk or eating less cake they can still be worth it if they mean getting covid fewer times than otherwise.