apparently there are some new companys trying to make more portable positive pressure versions of the iron lung

saw homozygoat talk about it on the gremloe stream - probably some execs investing in ironlungfutures re: polio cases

By the two year point:

This meta-analysis shows the presence of post-COVID symptoms in 30% of patients two-years after COVID-19. Fatigue, cognitive disorders, and pain were the most prevalent post-COVID symptoms. Psychological disturbances as well as sleep problems were still present two-years after COVID-19.

“This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”

I don't know how upset I should be because I'm not sure if this can actually play out. I'm actually unsure what the health and labour rules are here. I'm looking into getting a doctor's note and talking to lawyers friends. I'm just fuming upset now. Why the fuck do you care that I mask?

Highlights

•    Cognitive engagement induced distinct prefrontal haemodynamic patterns post COVID-19.
•    40% of the undergraduate students reported brain fog due to COVID-19.
•    37 % of the undergraduates exhibited impaired cognition up to 17 months post-infection.
•    Brain fog appeared to affect the distinct prefrontal haemodynamic patterns.

Abstract

To date, 770 million people worldwide have contracted COVID-19, with many reporting long-term “brain fog”. Concerningly, young adults are both overrepresented in COVID-19 infection rates and may be especially vulnerable to prolonged cognitive impairments following infection. This calls for focused research on this population to better understand the mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment post-COVID-19. Addressing gaps in the literature, the current study investigated differences in neuropsychological performance and cerebral haemodynamic activity following COVID-19 infection in undergraduate students. 94 undergraduates (age in years: M = 20.58, SD = 3.33, range = 18 to 46; 89 % female) at the University of Otago reported their COVID-19 infection history before completing a neuropsychological battery while wearing a multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) device to record prefrontal haemodynamics. We observed that 40 % retrospectively self-reported cognitive impairment (brain fog) due to COVID-19 and 37 % exhibited objective evidence of cognitive impairment (assessed via computerised testing), with some suggestion that executive functioning may have been particularly affected; however, group-level analyses indicated preserved cognitive performance post COVID-19, which may in part reflect varying compensatory abilities. The NIRS data revealed novel evidence that previously infected students exhibited distinct prefrontal haemodynamic patterns during cognitive engagement, reminiscent of those observed in adults four decades older, and this appeared to be especially true if they reported experiencing brain fog due to COVID-19. These results provide new insights into the potential neuropathogenic mechanisms influencing cognitive impairment following COVID-19.

The new study provides the most compelling data yet to suggest that excess mortality rates from chronic illnesses and other natural causes were actually driven by COVID-19 infections.

For the study, Stokes, Paglino, and colleagues utilized novel statistical methods to analyze monthly data on natural-cause deaths and reported COVID-19 deaths for 3,127 counties over the first 30 months of the pandemic, from March 2020 to August 2022. They estimated that 1.2 million excess natural-cause deaths occurred in US counties during this time period, and found that roughly 163,000 of these deaths did not have COVID-19 listed at all on the death certificates.

Now if we could get an estimate of how much chronic illness covid is causing...

This isn't news to anyone who's followed the science since 2020...

A new study has found that COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is linked to accelerated plaque buildup in the coronary arteries, increasing the risk of heart-related complications. The findings were published today (February 4) in Radiology, the journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

“COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is initially characterized by acute lung injury and respiratory failure,” explained the study’s senior author, Junbo Ge, M.D., professor and director of the Cardiology Department at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University in Shanghai, China. “However, emerging evidence indicates COVID-19 also involves an extreme inflammatory response that can affect the cardiovascular system.”

“Inflammation following COVID-19 can lead to ongoing plaque growth, particularly in high-risk, noncalcified plaques.” Dr. Ge said. “Patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection are at increased risk for myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, and stroke for up to a year.”

He added that these effects persist during the aftermath of COVID-19, regardless of comorbidities such as age, hypertension, and diabetes.

Seems kind of bad for a disease everyone is exposed to multiple times a year.

Higher levels of long COVID were found in lower-income households.

One child aged 17 or under was randomly selected from each sample household within the survey, and parents responded to questions about whether their child had previous COVID-19 illness, if the child had symptoms lasting three months or longer and if the child still had those symptoms at the time of interview.

Results of the analysis, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, showed approximately 1.01 million children, or 1.4%, are believed to have ever experienced long COVID as of 2023 and about 293,000, or 0.4%, were experiencing the condition when the survey was being conducted.

This is similar to the 1.3%, or about 1 million, of children ever estimated to have had long COVID as of 2022, according to the authors.

Among children currently experiencing long COVID at the time of interview, 80% reported to have some level of activity limitation compared with before they had COVID-19.

"The large proportion of children experiencing [long COVID] with any activity limitation highlights the need to examine the severity of activity limitation, functional outcomes, and days lost from school," the authors wrote.

The authors said there may be an under-reporting of long COVID in younger children due to difficulty with the verbalization of their symptoms.

Looooooooooooooooong covid

Written by a guy who has not been able to use his brain for 3 days (but can still navigate this website lol)

lol, it took a cheeto back in the whitehouse for it to happen, but it's a start.

Some pretty good comments regarding Long Covid too.

Here's a chart of mortality trends showing before and after covid.

Covid deaths have gone down, which is good (and this seems to be true for all age groups, last I checked) but what is alarming is the mortality rate for many other causes shot up in 2020 and just haven't come down.

If you thought drivers got worse after the pandemic, you weren't just imagining things.

And I don't know if the US even has the capacity to measure any other negative health consequences aside from death and disability.

Increases in early adult mortality can signal population risks that may become more pronounced as these cohorts age. These results suggest the possibility of a worsening mortality crisis unless these trends are reversed. Policy solutions will require attention to the underlying causes of intensifying excess mortality among early adults (eg, opioid use, alcohol consumption, traffic safety, dietary risks). The 2 distinct phases of increasing mortality (before and after 2020) may also suggest the need to attend to ongoing consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic—which may be expressed in causes of death related to long-term consequences of infection, medical disruption, and social dislocation—and to deleterious health trends that predated it.

It would be interesting to see how this compares to the few countries which waited until the vaccines were available before they went YOLO.

I've been wearing a mask at crowded spaces but a couple of days ago the supermarket was very very busy and someone let their child run up behind me and open mouth cough right next to me.

Masks work and it took 4 years for me to catch it the first time, but they aren't miracle workers if the general public are allowed to basically come up and assault you.

I hope it's just the flu but I recognise these emerging symptoms as the same as when I first got it last April.

You might think I'm overreacting but the last time I got COVID it hit me hard. I have no memory of the week and a half it was at its worst, as It was just a haze of pain, fever dreams and confusion. It scares me to think how it might have damaged my brain (insert obvious jokes here) and I'm terrified of having it again. Especially if it does worse damage each time you get it.

government surplus site (gcsurplus.ca) is giving out free stuff and will ship free upon request 2 boxes of respirators or 100 respirators

duck bill respirators.

https://www.gcsurplus.ca/mn-eng.cfm?snc=wfsav&sc=enc-bid&scn=526845&lcn=682165&lct=L&srchtype=&lci=&str=21&lotnf=1&frmsr=1&sf=ferm-clos&saleType=

Surprisingly, it seems like the topic of transparent masks has never come up in this community before. Since I need to buy new masks anyways, and I may be getting more involved with the Deaf community in the near future, I'd like to try them.

under personal protective equipment

"safemask architect pro"

duckbill respirator, these are apparently the dimensions

I'm scared of posting too many details for fear of self doxing. But I am that guy who N95s indoors everywhere. I never unmask except in front of my partner, who also is careful. I put HEPA filters in my classroom. I also avoid unnecessary indoor activities, like cinemas, gyms and indoor sports. If there's an interesting event but there's no ventilation and no one is masking, I'll give it a pass.

There's been some positives. I'm way more self confident than I used to be, knowing deeply how shitty and ignorant the average normie is. I used to always second guess myself, and now I don't. I also spend way less money, as I don't dine nor holiday. COVID pushed me far into tankie territory, and opened my mind into better understating patriarchy and white supremacy.

Also ya, I don't get sick ever.

However, I'm such a different person today. I'm not the sweet chatty person I was in 2019. I had an almost femme twang in my voice back then, and now I'm just a ragged pissed off uncle.

One huge disadvantage is that I'm such a media consuming person. Pre covid, I'd avoid TV and games. Now it's all I do. I've become the kind of person that needs someone on in order to eat or sleep. I used to fucking hate these people, and now I've become that person.

The other huge problem is that my work productivity is way lower. I used to finish everything up in a coffee shop, now obviously I can't do that. I can definitely do more in my job and in my org. I regret that I've become, honestly, maybe a bit lazy.

Along with a baffling rise in post-pandemic mortality rates that has insurers stymied, the number of Americans claiming disabilities has skyrocketed since 2020, adding another puzzling factor that could impact corporate bottom lines.

After rising slowly and steadily since the turn of the century and hovering between 25 million and 27 million, the number of disabled among the U.S. population rose nearly 35 percent in the last four years, to an all-time high of 38,844,000 at the end of November, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Reasons behind the stunning increase vary, but many seem connected to the COVID-19 pandemic.

OH FOR REAL?

If the rate of disability is climbing then that's a pretty good sign that covid is still fucking people up and should be avoided.

this sucks, i have pain in my shoulders and neck which has never really happened before - could be my shit posture, but i think it's probably spurred on by my covid infection a couple weeks ago

can't turn my head without alot of pain.

boomer parents being boomers and shit saying "it's all in your head"

the acetaminophen doesn't help

Stolen from here

A new study reveals that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein remains in brain-protective tissues and skull bone marrow for years after infection, potentially driving long COVID’s neurological symptoms. Using advanced imaging, researchers discovered elevated spike protein levels in these regions, leading to chronic brain inflammation and increased risks of neurodegenerative conditions.

mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were shown to reduce spike protein accumulation by 50%, though residual protein may still pose risks. The findings highlight the need for new therapies and early diagnostic tools to address long-term effects on brain health.

In the years leading up to covid, I was a caregiver for my grandparents and watched them slowly lose their minds before they went. My grandfather was especially bad at the end. So my two biggest fears regarding covid are the death of Herd Immunity, which we're watching occur, and this shit.

What's interesting is the chart on the website. This 2024 flu season is worse than 2023, and 2023 was worse than 2022. If the "immunity debt" theory was right, this wouldn't be happening. Could all the well documented evidence that covid harms your immune system and makes you more susceptible to other diseases possibly be true?

Hospitals in England are being hit by a "tidal wave" of flu and other winter viruses, NHS bosses say.

Data released by NHS England showed there were an average of nearly 1,900 beds occupied by flu patients last week – up 70% on the week before.

That is more than three times higher than this time last year, with doctors warning that they are struggling to contain the spread of the virus within hospitals as well as seeing more patients being admitted.

Covid, RSV and the vomiting bug Norovirus are also continuing to cause problems.

Thankfully, for now, it looks like we have a few weeks before covid takes off everywhere in the US, and it won't be as dramatic as the last one because the summer surge was pretty large and their haven't been any new significant mutations showing up in a while.... but the UK is probably a preview for what's about to happen in the US. Whooping cough is going nuts at the moment.

JPweiland forcasts covid waves, and has been remarkable accurate so far.

Reminder that masking works especially well against the flu and other less contagious virus. Always mask in places that vulnerable and high risk people can't avoid!

death rates from "respiratory infections" skyrocketed in 2020, but death rates for almost every other category also rose "mildly".

The causes of death that rose:

• cardiovascular
• neuropsychiatric
• unintentional injury
• digestive
• intentional injury

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rate-by-cause-who-mdb

deaths from digestive disease was about 18.75/100k pre-pandemic, and went up to 24/100k in 2021. So digestive deaths increased by about 28% after COVID started hitting.

Also worth mentioning that for every additional person who dies of X, there are dozens, hundreds, thousands of additional people suffering from X

As I sit in my office building for 8 hours with a mask on, listening to people around me act like it’s over. I am counting down the seconds till I can be back in my house, safe and sound.