Thread by @arijitchakrav

@hallinen_diane @pan_accindex I think if someone’s going to make a claim like “Covid doesn’t harm your immune system”, that’s a bold claim.

If they’re wrong, the consequences will be much more severe than the unnecessary concern that would result from a false alarm. (1/)

@hallinen_diane @pan_accindex The claim itself is contrarian, as it flies in the face of the established science. It’s beyond meaningful debate at this point that *some* cases of Covid -even mild ones- lead to depletion of immune system components for months (2/)

@hallinen_diane @pan_accindex The people who would have us believe that this is no cause for concern base their argument on the fact that it (a) only happens to some people, (b) only happens for a little while or (c) happens with other viruses as well. All three statements are true. And irrelevant here (3/)

@hallinen_diane @pan_accindex This is a disease that most people can expect to get multiple times in their lives (our modeling suggests 1-2x/yr, in the absence of precautions), cumulative damage is well documented for other organ systems. Some -very nonzero - fraction of infections is persistent as well (4/)

@hallinen_diane @pan_accindex There’s no evidence suggesting that some people are uniquely vulnerable to immune depletion while others aren’t. It’s a Russell’s teapot to make the claim, and those who make it should produce the evidence to support it (5/)

@hallinen_diane @pan_accindex If you get the disease once a year and your immune system spends 6 months recovering each time, you are functionally immunocompromised- on average- when you look at it across the entire year. (6/)

@hallinen_diane @pan_accindex Repeated infections cause cumulative damage & intrahost viral evolution during persistent infections leading to immune evasion is well documented. Those who make the claim that such intrahost evo during persistent infections is rare should produce evidence to support it. (7/)

@hallinen_diane @pan_accindex False analogies to other viruses have been used by minimizers to confuse the issue from the get-go. Covid is not HIV, the flu or a cold. It’s an unprecedented public health threat, and the claim that there is no cause for concern is speculative. (8/8)