Thread by @elisaperego78

I fail to understand how a disease —covid— could kill an estimated 15 million people in two years despite the prodigies of modern medicine and unprecedented safety measures — and leave almost all survivors basically unscathed.
Make no mistake. Morbidity from covid is huge.

Several lines of evidence — which are irrefutable especially when taken together — point to severe levels of prolonged disease, increased mortality risk, chronic illness, and disability following SARS-CoV-2 infection

First, the lived experience of survivors, who have been raising the alarm since the first wave and in subsequent waves. Patients identified, defined, and named Long Covid. Further research have fully confirmed those reports. We did say Long Covid was a catastrophe in the making

Second, the top health body in the world, the WHO, recognized Long Covid at the speed of light in August 2020 following patient advocacy —in a rather unprecedented move in medicine. I don't approve everything of the WHO. But you don't do this for a little fever, or tiredness

Third, serious research based on pathophysiology, analysis of health records, accurate symptom descriptions, and clinical signs in acute and Long Covid, show the devastating impact of this disease on the human body. Covid is now one of the most studied diseases in medical history

Fourth, socio-economic research and investigative journalism are shedding light on the link between covid morbidity —Long Covid—
and a long series of problems we're facing as a society, like labour shortages. Even key financial institutions have expressed their concern

Fifth, SARS. Many survivors of the first SARS were ill for years or never recovered. The SARS virus is called SARS-COV. The virus responsible for covid is called SARS-CoV-2. For a good reason. The two pathogens, while not identical, have a lot in common

#longSARS

We know other viruses have long-term health effects. Being SARS-CoV-2 particularly similar to SARS CoV, SARS should be our first reference point to start to grasp the sequelae of covid —although research on SARS long-term damage could have been done sharply imo. But it's enough

As regards those who think covid is like the seasonal flu, we have key research comparing the two diseases, such as recently the huge VA sample by the Al-Aly team: Covid is always more dangerous than seasonal influenza. And this isn't the only research on the topic, of course!

Sixth, sadly SARS-CoV-2 is a very unstable, fast-evolving pathogen. It has, especially now with "omicron", massive capacity to reinfect. We know from patient experiences/data and research that reinfections aren't benign, but actually increase the risks of sequelae.

Seventh, as I have shown in a few threads | for those who follow me! and others have also done e.g. @MeetJess mortality and morbidity from covid are also vast among personalities, singers, football stars etc. These are "rare" people. Big numbers there are a "red flag"

Eight, SARS-CoV-2 is airborne. It means, broadly speaking, it can spread in the air a bit like cigarette smoke. This confers it great capability to infect. Communication on this has been murky. Many people don't fully grasp it. We don't have clean air. We scrapped masks.

Ninth, airborne prevention and covid testing to protect healthcare settings aren't implemented! This means nosocomial infections (i.e. hospital related) and other infections in contexts like dentistry, are common. Vulnerable people are exposed, increasing the risks of sequelae!

Tenth, covid is bad enough. But, in collapsed healthcare systems like in the early red zones, people with severe covid have been literally phone triaged and left at home with no medical care. No medical care equals more damage, that is, more morbidity. This continues to this day

Eleventh, morbidity from SARS-CoV-2 infection #LongCovid is now recognized —sometimes under different names like post covid syndrome— by a significant percentage of countries and health bodies in the world. Including the very same White House and CDC! It's real

Twelfth, health institutions like the NIH, universities, but also private investors are putting billions into #LongCovid research. Not all of this money is spent fast enough, etc. But they wouldn't do that, or manage to justify it, if the risks from the disease weren't massive

Thirteenth, health ministers like the German one are now openly speaking up about the dangers of covid. We know policymakers aren't prone to raise the alarm on #LongCovid for many reasons (economy etc.). If some are willing to do it, we're on the brink of very severe effects