Wow.
Let's work through *all* the slides Yale School of Public Health shared...
🌎"What we know (and don't) know about Covid's effect on the immune system"
🧵
(just the immune system, though, nothing here about cardio or lung or liver or nerve, or other stuff, OK?)
LASTING IMPACT.
"Growing research shows infection with SARS-CoV-2 can create lasting differences in some people's immune systems."
THIS LOOKS LIKE (1)
"Altered immune system cells
Severe cases of COVID-19 can change the parent stem cells that generate immune cells. These altered stem cells create cells that are more inflammatory."
THIS LOOKS LIKE (2)
"Viral reservoirs and fragments
Proteins and fragments that have been found in people with Long COVID can set off a continuing immune response and amplify inflammation."
THIS LOOKS LIKE (3)
"Immune dysregulation and chronic inflammation
Dysregulation = when some immune cells are working hard, and others are exhausted. How long it can last is unknown."
THIS LOOKS LIKE (4)
"Triggered autoimmune conditions, blood clots, and latent viruses
COVID-19 infections can trigger autoantibodies that lead to autoimmune disorders."
"5-20% of people develop lingering symptoms or new health conditions after infection, called Long COVID.
As of the CDC's latest count in March 2024, 30% of all American adults who've had COVID have experienced Long COVID."
👀🚨
"The more COVID-19 vaccine doses you get, the lower the risk of Long COVID. The more reinfections you have, the higher the risk."
"172% INCREASED RISK
The risk of developing an autoimmune disease rose by up to 172% after infection, per a study following people from 2020 to 2022.
Up-to-date COVID-19 vaccination can reduce the likelihood of developing an autoimmune condition after infection."
"OTHER ILLNESSES
SARS-CoV-2 can also activate other viruses that have been lying dormant, like Epstein-Barr and herpes viruses.
Studies have found kids with prior COVID-19 infections had a greater risk of RSV infections."
Notice the little bit at the bottom?
"Always feel run-down? Practice harm reduction and learn how you can protect yourself from more damage."
Good idea.
"49% OF COVID INFECTIONS ARE ASYMPTOMATIC,
which means you may not know if you are actually sick. This is why it's important to take a multilayered approach (one or more of the following) to protect yourselves and others:"
"N95 and KN95 masks
Up-to-date vaccinations
HEPA air filtration
Rapid tests before gathering
Good ventilation (carbon dioxide <800 parts per million)
Attention to wastewater levels of COVID-19"
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW (1)
"The long-term impact on other illnesses
Outside of the influence on RSV and reactivated viruses, it's TBD whether altered immune systems predispose people to conditions like other infectious diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, or cancer."
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW (2)
"Why some people's conditions persist
We don't yet know why some people recover and their immune system restores, and why others continue to decline."
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW (3)
"What diagnostics and therapies can help restore the immune system
More identifiers like viral load tests and biomarker tests, plus treatments for Long COVID, are needed to help the millions living with the condition."
Wow.
And you might think that was an extensive deep dive into what Covid does to you...
BUT IT WAS ONLY ABOUT YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM.
Covid does that to every bodily system.
That thread was only a glimpse of what we know about what Covid does.
One of the brilliant things about the Ukrainian drone strikes on the Russian airbases by way of drones shipped close to the targets in shipping containers is that the only logical Russian response is to increase security checks on all shipping inside Russia. Which means...
... that Russia may have to start treating every shipping container like a potential bomb.
Massive delays at ports, rail hubs, warehouses. Every container merits inspection. That’s thousands per day. Russia’s military logistics, already straining, potentially gets a whole lot slower.
It's quite staggering when you look at the doubling of days of sickness absence for doctors in the NHS in five short years.
We're not "back to normal".
We're going *out of control*.
Zoom in to "Gastrointestinal Problems" and "Cold Cough Flu-Influenza".
Look at that genuinely astonishing rise from *2019* to now.
I mean, seriously, flipping look at it.
Doctors were off sick with stomach problems or respiratory infections for FOUR TIMES AS MANY DAYS IN THE LAST YEAR AS THEY WERE IN 2019.
I have just had the craziest morning.
I meet up twice a year with five colleagues to coordinate an annual event.
When I arrived the first two were already there...
One was talking about how her husband (early 50s) has not returned to work after a stroke six months ago, and about how she (early 50s) was dealing with unending fatigue.
The other guy replies, "Yes, my sister (40s) had a stroke at the end of last year, and her husband (late 40s) has just had an operation for a brain tumour."
The people who say that endless repeat covid infection is not a concern... They say it, despite the fact that studies like this one are only coming out now after *five years of work*. It was based on cases in 2020.
There *is* enough evidence in to say that endless repeat Covid infections are going to be detrimental to long term health on an individual and population level, but there will be even more evidence to come.
There will be problems caused by cases caught *today* that will not be out for years.
Don't forget:
*Mass widespread* universal covid *infection* only started in 2021.
*Mass widespread* universal covid *REinfection* only started in 2022.
In the mid 2000s, I got ill while finishing a project in Eastern Europe, and developed some health conditions that nobbled me for a few years, and my whole life changed track.
I didn't go back, but I never took my eye off what I had seen start to develop:
Putin's new empire.
🧵
Let me explain.
Gorbachev's perestroika descended into Yeltsin's mess, which evolved into Putin's era.
The first few years of it were a juggling act as Putin capitalised on the chaos and convinced the West that he was the best option for a stable Russia.