COVID is like an iceberg. If you fixate on deaths, you'll miss the bigger picture.
The true toll of COVID is what it does to your body over time--especially if you're repeatedly exposed to it.
The challenge is how to conceptualize that damage in a way that people understand.
In the first few years of the pandemic, governments did everything they could to frame COVID as a phenomenon whose damage was limited to deaths.
This was no mistake.
If people truly understood what this virus did to them they'd be furious.
Instead of telling the truth about the virus, it was easier for governments to hoard data and let people come to their own flawed conclusions.
Conclusions like "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", or "infections build immunity and protect me against the disease" may seem like common sense to some, but when you actually look at the scientific evidence, there's a far more sinister reality.
The truth is: COVID wears down your body over time. Given enough exposure, COVID makes you vulnerable.
The amount of strain gets worse with repeated exposures, and the risk of permanent damage compounds over time with more infections. This damage is not limited to people who are "vulnerable" (a vague, undefined term).
If someone drove their car off a cliff, we wouldn't estimate their injuries based on the strength of their car.
It comes down to physics--a model of the world that we can reason with. Force = mass x acceleration. With enough force involved in an accident, you're guaranteed to get hurt.
The available evidence around COVID points to profound and lasting physical harm. This harm is not hard to find when you actually look for it. Vascular abnormalities, cognitive dysfunction, respiratory problems, increased susceptibility to secondary infections, and debilitating fatigue--the list goes on.
The cliff is deep.
Part of the problem here is that there's limited data capable of sufficiently illustrating the chronic pervasiveness of SARS-CoV-2. Spike protein ends up deep within your body, and can only be measured directly with specialized equipment (some of which is still being developed). So we end up looking for second-order effects.
In chronic illness, life can become quite miserable, even for years at a time, before the body gives in fully. Just talk to a long COVID patient. They're suffering more than you can imagine. And yes, that includes people who were never vaccinated.
The art of good science communication is being able to break down complex and abstract processes into bite-sized chunks of understanding. We desperately need strong scientific communication on the chronic cellular effects of COVID.
Don't assume that any institution has your personal safety in mind right now. Take the time to recognize what this virus is capable of, and protect yourself accordingly. Even if you look at vaccines skeptically, that doesn't negate the possibility that the virus itself is also quite nasty. Research demonstrates cellular effects completely independent of vaccination. The virus doesn't think or discriminate; it does what it does.
A single infection could define the rest of your life. A single infection could rob you of your ability to function independently. A single infection could debilitate the people you love.
Deaths are the tip of the iceberg. The deeper and obscured reality is that COVID reduces your quality of life long after infection. Don't miss the rest of the iceberg that's lurking deep underwater.
The true toll of COVID is what it does to your body over time--especially if you're repeatedly exposed to it.
The challenge is how to conceptualize that damage in a way that people understand.
In the first few years of the pandemic, governments did everything they could to frame COVID as a phenomenon whose damage was limited to deaths.
This was no mistake.
If people truly understood what this virus did to them they'd be furious.
Instead of telling the truth about the virus, it was easier for governments to hoard data and let people come to their own flawed conclusions.
Conclusions like "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", or "infections build immunity and protect me against the disease" may seem like common sense to some, but when you actually look at the scientific evidence, there's a far more sinister reality.
The truth is: COVID wears down your body over time. Given enough exposure, COVID makes you vulnerable.
The amount of strain gets worse with repeated exposures, and the risk of permanent damage compounds over time with more infections. This damage is not limited to people who are "vulnerable" (a vague, undefined term).
If someone drove their car off a cliff, we wouldn't estimate their injuries based on the strength of their car.
It comes down to physics--a model of the world that we can reason with. Force = mass x acceleration. With enough force involved in an accident, you're guaranteed to get hurt.
The available evidence around COVID points to profound and lasting physical harm. This harm is not hard to find when you actually look for it. Vascular abnormalities, cognitive dysfunction, respiratory problems, increased susceptibility to secondary infections, and debilitating fatigue--the list goes on.
The cliff is deep.
Part of the problem here is that there's limited data capable of sufficiently illustrating the chronic pervasiveness of SARS-CoV-2. Spike protein ends up deep within your body, and can only be measured directly with specialized equipment (some of which is still being developed). So we end up looking for second-order effects.
In chronic illness, life can become quite miserable, even for years at a time, before the body gives in fully. Just talk to a long COVID patient. They're suffering more than you can imagine. And yes, that includes people who were never vaccinated.
The art of good science communication is being able to break down complex and abstract processes into bite-sized chunks of understanding. We desperately need strong scientific communication on the chronic cellular effects of COVID.
Don't assume that any institution has your personal safety in mind right now. Take the time to recognize what this virus is capable of, and protect yourself accordingly. Even if you look at vaccines skeptically, that doesn't negate the possibility that the virus itself is also quite nasty. Research demonstrates cellular effects completely independent of vaccination. The virus doesn't think or discriminate; it does what it does.
A single infection could define the rest of your life. A single infection could rob you of your ability to function independently. A single infection could debilitate the people you love.
Deaths are the tip of the iceberg. The deeper and obscured reality is that COVID reduces your quality of life long after infection. Don't miss the rest of the iceberg that's lurking deep underwater.
This list is not exhaustive, but as new research comes out showing specific damage caused by COVID, I post them on this thread.
Eventually I might write more about how these various effects tie together. Others have done so as well.
Eventually I might write more about how these various effects tie together. Others have done so as well.
https://twitter.com/Friesein/status/1756464689024819504
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