This is unreal - the new variant - anyone have it

[GreenPebbles]

I am not ill and I don't have it. I had COVID in the summer and I know it's likely only just around the corner again.

Did anyone have COVID recently? How was it?

I came across this on twitter. Apparently there's a new variant called XEN.

It looks a lot like the original Wuhan variant. It appears as if people are getting better and then by the second week there is respiratory distress.

I mean like WHAT THE HOLY FUCK?

I mean like how can this be allowed to spread if this is happening?

What makes some chronic illnesses 'REAL' and others not?

Similarly, I'm wondering what "normal post viral fatigue" is.

NICE divides long COVID into two categories:

• ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 for effects from four to twelve weeks after onset, and
• post-COVID-19 syndrome for effects that persist 12 or more weeks after onset.

These are pretty clear categories and more than just feeling tired/wiped out for a couple of weeks after a virus.

Plainly, the newly announced NHS Consultation needs the public to nominate themselves for crossover roles with DWP for Chief Self-Appointed Mind Reader with a sub-speciality of WitchFinder General for the Genuinely Ill and Deserving of Support.

Or something like that.

Post viral fatigue can happen to anyone at any time after a virus, it's basically long Covid

For some reason long Covid has been given its own name and designated as being much worse

But if people aren’t testing how can they know? When I had glandular fever as a student I was wiped out and struggling for months, a lecture or a shift at my job felt like a marathon. It was horrific. How are we ensuring that the people self reporting have actually tested and it is definitely post covid symptoms? There are so many ways the data we are getting could be incorrect.

'Post viral fatigue can happen to anyone at any time after a virus, it's basically long Covid

For some reason long Covid has been given its own name and designated as being much worse'

There are a range of issues someone can have following a covid infection. Someone might have hearing loss, erectile dysfunction and loss of smell. Another might have POTS. Another might have memory issues, nausea and fatigue. Someone else might become inattentive and have personality and behavioural changes. Someone else might be unaware of any changes, but unknowingly be at much higher risk of a stroke or heart attack.

Different viruses present differently in short term and with their longer term sequelae- polio, chickenpox, HIV, measles, flu etc.
There may be some issues that can occur with other viruses e.g. fatigue, but we don't say 'fatigue can occur after polio, that's all polio does and we should discount everything else'. Thankfully, we also don't say polio can be asymptomatic for some, so let's do nothing about it.

Well I guess it is considered much worse because it is much worse. A virus that affects the cardiovascular system has all manner of repercussions. It's not just people feeling a bit tired or imagining things.

It is worse.
It can damage the vascular system increasing risk of heart attack and stroke.
It can cause neuroinflammation and neurological symptoms on par with dementia
And recent research shows after 3 infections your risk of long covid increases significantly.

Long covid can have measurable cognitive effects on things like working memory and language fluency - covid is a really nasty illness for some people. Long covid just being a few hysterical malingerers is a reassuring narrative for some people who can then think of themselves as safe from it, but that doesn't make it the truth.

The thing is other viruses are not a huge threat because they are not circulating freely. Even flu in comparison to Covid, I know there's a flu season every year, but for a lot of people, they still don't get it. I think the last time I had flu was in 2004. Just read that again. 2004. 20 years ago.

Covid is slap bang right there in your face all year long. I had Covid twice so far. Both times floored me. It's right around the corner again in no time at all due to all the variants and little immunity.

With covid circulating freely more and more people will fold.

OP, do you have health anxiety?

Nobody is folding. Yes some people get it and get poorly but that's the same with flu, a cold, d&v, all of them have the same potential to leave people poorly. You can get post viral fatigue from any virus.

You don't need to be this worried about tinnitus

*about it, not about tinnitus!

You can get post viral fatigue from any virus.

But Long Covid is a fair bit more, as pp say above, than post-viral fatigue.

Even those of us who don't get LC, have an increased risk as a result of having had Covid of all sorts of concerns, from type 2 diabetes, to cardiovascular disease, to dementia and various neurological diseases, and more.

Even those of us who don't get LC, have an increased risk as a result of having had Covid of all sorts of concerns, from type 2 diabetes, to cardiovascular disease, to dementia and various neurological diseases, and more.

Would that be difficult to track in people's healthcare records as lots of people didn't seek medical help, unless they were very unwell? And there are people who only had COVID-19 without showing symptoms.

I don't know how researchers are going to track this.

They can't. Unless they study every single person who's had Covid in depth before and after the infection, which is just impossible

I think bandying suggestions of 'health anxiety' and 'anxiety' is very off. Imagine how you'd feel if you had either of these conditions and people just reel them off to try to shut down a discussion.

Do you think a care provider that pays sick pay to a care worker to stay off when covid positive has 'health anxiety'? What about Ministry of Defence putting in air cleaners? What about childminders that encourage parents to keep unwell children at home? What about a teacher that opens a window? What about a dentist that wears a respirator?

All a bit different to OP panicking and saying we'll all be "falling" to it soon.

OP said more and more will fold, not everyone. That makes sense. Why would fewer and fewer fold or have longer term issues if we continue to take no action? OP said some measures were needed. That's sensible, not anxious.

They've been aware of this years ago. For example:

Do people who have COVID-19 go on to develop other diseases? - Harvard Health

No health anxiety.

With a high prevalence of Covid circulating with usually two big waves a year, one in winter and one in summer, more and more people are going to become susceptible to sickness and disease. This is on top of everything else that people deal with too. The NHS is struggling as it is and it will continue to do with more of a load. That will also mean longer waiting lists for people. Something is going to have to give. It makes sense to try and slow down the spread of covid. Not with a lockdown but other posters provided a good list of examples of measures.

It doesn't make sense to have high levels of sickness and disease float around the population.

This is on the same level as going out and riding bareback with all and sundry and begging for HIV without a care in the world and then just pass it on.

So what do you propose? More lockdowns?

We are all very sick with it at the moment and I feel pressure to get DD back in. DHs work have told him to stay away, already too late as it’s spreading like wildfire.
I just wish there were guidelines about staying home, but not a lockdown.

Why is it lock or down with you. There's a middle ground and other posters provided a fantastic list.

• masks in certain situations like public transport and hospitals
• better air quality controls
• government supports for people to stay off work and school when ill
• governments should get behind the new nasal vaccines in development and push for a quicker release. Currently 2027 is an estimate.
• a hygiene campaign with TV adverts showing people how to wash their hands properly, how to cough and sneeze properly.

Covid will never be eliminated however I think some measures should be brought in to reduce it.

I think it's wrong to have such high levels of sickness float about.

'Not with a lockdown but other posters provided a good list of examples of measures.'

Response is to ask if you want another lockdown?!!!!!

🤦‍♀️

But realistically what you want is another lockdown.

Unless we're all supplied with the best PPE, the masks we were given will do nothing. Better air in schools will be negated by supermarkets. Unless we're testing everyday, we could have it and not know.

There is no way to stop it.