Covid isn't the "common cold". Covid=common cold/flu is an argument that some policymakers, pundits, and so-called "experts" have been trying to make since much earlier in the pandemic. They can do it directly, or indirectly. It happened with Omicron, for example. Some examples:
Tony Fauci in late 2021, Omicron, we likely learn to live with Covid like we do we do with common cold and flu (to note, Fauci has expressed varying and in my opinion inconsistent views on Covid, see various media)
(Please note there are myriads of news articles like these, more or less subtly linking flu, cold and Covid together. And note that many people read only an article's title. So, even in case the articles in question dig deeper, the first impression stays)
"Long COVID is a new complex chronic condition caused by SARS-CoV-2. Born in 2020 from the lived experience of patients, the term broke the early myth that COVID-19 was either a brief mild illness or a rapidly fatal disease."
"[the term #LongCovid] sparked a global grassroots movement demanding recognition and research. Long COVID is a vascular, chronic multisystemic condition caused by a virus that challenges medicine and public health in unprecedented ways."
SARS-CoV-2 infection is a significant risk for cardiovascular health. Cardiovascular sequelae and manifestations are a key facet of #LongCovid. Patients deserve care
A thread with research studies
There are concerns about a "mysterious illness" going through the pelaton at the top cycling event Tour de France. Several racers were reported to be affected already days ago. Since then, star M. van der Poel has withdrawn with pneumonia while R. Evenepoel left feeling "empty"
One of the most prominent racers affected by the "mysterious illness" was superstar and current Tour leader Tadej Pogačar, who lamented cold symptoms but remains in the race. Van der Poel also had cold symptoms, which has now progressed to pneumonia
Tadej Pogačar told reporters on Sunday "Am I sick? Thanks for checking in, actually I'm better, it's almost over" He added: "I have a bit of a runny nose, a bit of a cough, but I'm not really sick. It's just a bit of a pain in the *ss."
Pogačar currently remains Tour leader
Five years ago today the term #LongCovid was first used as a Twitter hashtag. A single tweet by a patient linked together a growing, grassroots movement of people who weren't recovering from Covid. Across the world, we were fighting for recognition and studying our own disease
I feel strange posting this again after five years of fighting, suffering, and a global, grassroot mobilization of Covid survivors, who changed how Covid was understood and communicated to the public
Far from being a short, respiratory illness in most, dangerous only for the "old and frail", as said in early guidelines, Covid was a prolonged, multi-system disease, which could be severe and even fatal also in the "young and healthy": #LongCovid
A severe surge in Covid cases is reported in Asian countries.
"In Hong Kong, weekly cases surged over 30 times in 10 weeks. Cases also surged by nearly 30 per cent in a week in Singapore. There are also reports of significant surges in China and Thailand" indiatoday.in/diu/story/in-n…
There also seems to be a raise in certain indicators about Covid in Italy, such as child hospitalizations, in Italy, where novel variants of concern have been detected
However, surveillance in the country remains low
Biopsies of five patients with myocarditis in #LongCovid showed disruption of mitochondrial integrity in the heart. This research was replicated in mice and shed light on the profound cardiovascular impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on cardiovascular health sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
The team's "investigation provides histopathological and electron microscopic analyses from endomyocardial biopsies of five patients who experienced various post-COVID-19 cardiovascular outcomes." such as myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle)
"Electron microscopy revealed widespread mitochondrial disorder and the presence of myofilament degradation within the cardiomyocytes from the patients.
Similar mitochondria disorganization were found in SARS-CoV-2 infected mice."