Post-COVID-19 Condition (Long Covid)

Symptoms

While common symptoms of long COVID can include fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction over 200 different symptoms have been reported that can have an impact on everyday functioning.

Numbers affected

Studies show that around 10–20% of people infected by SARS-CoV-2 may go on to develop symptoms that can be diagnosed as long COVID. Although exact numbers of those living with the condition are uncertain, it is believed that more than 17 million people across the WHO European Region may have experienced it during the first two years of the pandemic (2020/21).

Protecting yourself and others from long COVID

Protection from long COVID means protecting yourself and others from COVID-19 infection in the first place. WHO recommends a number of simple, proven measures to help do this:

• Taking up offers of COVID-19 vaccines/boosters
• Wearing well-fitted masks
• cleaning hands regularly
• catching coughs and sneezes
• ensuring indoor spaces are well ventilated.

Yeah, how about there is no 'going back to normal' for this.  There's adaptation, there's finding joy despite the things we've lost, but just pretending long Covid doesn't exist isn't going to make it go away.

FDA Authorizes Covid Booster Shots That Target Omicron BA.5 Variant

Pfizer and Moderna were originally developing boosters to target omicron BA.1, the variant that caused the massive wave of infection last winter. But the FDA told the vaccine makers in late June to switch gears and target BA.4 and BA.5 instead as those variants quickly gained ground. The sudden change in plans left little time for clinical trials in humans before a fall rollout.

As a consequence, the authorization is based on human clinical trials from the BA.1 shots, which produced a better immune response than the original doses, according to the FDA. But it’s unclear how the BA.5 boosters will perform in humans since the data is based on BA.1.

While I have no hesitation about getting this vaccine myself, I do think the lack of data for additional benefits over the original vaccine means we shouldn't assume that the BA.5 vaccine will have some specific additional benefit over the original or the BA.1 vaccines, which both have human data.  I entirely understand the reasoning behind this, but if they're going to compare this to the flu vaccine (which we still have more data for making variants for), they should be upfront about how the effectiveness for that vaccine can vary widely from year to year.  To be clear, this vaccine will not be less effective than the prior one, but because there is no human data yet, we cannot say it will be more effective than the original vaccine or the BA.1 vaccine either.  That is just a guess.  It's a reasonable guess, but very much a guess nonetheless.

The vaccines greatly reduce the chance of dying, hospitalization, and other bad outcomes.  But none of the vaccines, even the omicron BA.1 booster being used in other countries for which we do have human data, guarantee protection, and especially they do not guarantee protection against any particular outcome from covid.  Masking is still vital to reducing transmission for everyone, but especially to vulnerable populations, and for reducing long covid, as is avoiding public spaces as much as possible (and avoiding or masking up when around anyone who lives with you as much as is practical for your situation).

I don't think masking is overall as necessary outdoors unless someone thinks it's likely they'll be in a large crowd, but for various reasons I don't go outdoors without masking up.  I joke about being neurotic but there are also practical considerations in my case that I think make it more important than it might be for the average person.  

But in general, being outdoors considerably lowers transmission risk for airborne diseases like covid.  This is because virus particles have much more air to disperse through and it's generally much easier to physically distance yourself from other people. I'm also fully vaccinated and have had a booster shot, but my understanding is that even that doesn't prevent people from getting covid or getting long covid, it just reduces the likelihood of severe adverse effects like hospitalization and death.  So I still take full precautions, both because I don't want to catch covid and inadvertently pass it to someone else and because I'm worried about the possibility of adverse effects even with the vaccine (especially long covid which doesn't yet seem to be well understood).

Personally, I've continued to take the maximal possible precautions for covid-19 that I'm capable of despite being fully vaccinated.  In particular, this means I typically double mask and wear a face shield whenever I leave my home as well as employ physical distancing from other people, and avoid all unnecessary trips inside public buildings and transit.  The last is especially important as lack of adequate ventilation is one of the biggest risk factors for covid-19, and it's one that's largely outside of my control as an individual.

I get all my necessities delivered or mailed to me (though I avoid those services that deliver from restaurants and grocery stores due to how much they exploit their workers and how expensive they are).  I rely primarily on produce and pantry foods now as a result, though I can get the occassional refrigerated good ice-packed and delivered to me. I check out ebooks from the library.  While I go out regularly now, it's only to outdoor spaces like parks. 

I don't really even miss things like eating in restaurants anymore, though I wouldn't be opposed to if I felt it was safe again.  Though I have no idea when I'll think it's safe again.  I'm glad I have the added protection of being fully vaccinated, but given that one or more vaccines are known to be slightly less effective at preventing people from catching the Delta variant of covid-19 and we don't yet know how long immunity from the vaccine lasts even for the original version of the virus, I don't think it's a bad idea to be cautious.  I'd rather be overly cautious than not cautious enough.