[ljf]

I'm putting the kids to bed so don't have time to dig out any figures of interest, but my wife caught covid back in March, was OK but pretty ill, but then moved into the long covid phase and was wiped out. Heart rate all over the place and terrible numbness and loads of other rubbish. A full body scan showed issues with her heart function back in August, which is only just starting to recover now, a 'low ejection fraction' and other bits I forget. Latest scans show improved function but nothing like she should see at her age or fitness. This time last year she was lifting 47kg in the gym and working out 4 days a week.

The long term studies showing what you are asking are only just starting to show results - but everything we see so far shows that this is causing more issues, in more people than flu.

Also of note, a partner of my wife's friend got covid (positive test) back in April with only light symptoms. Just got it again (tested again) and is very ill this time - had to go to hospital but wasn't kept in. So immunity might not be what we think.

[ACow_Adonis]

I realise covid is highly politicised right now, but give me the benefit of the doubt. I said I'm not a covid skeptic and I meant it. In its current form it's more virulent than the flu (albeit with a different distribution of mortality outcomes). And of course we have to deal with the general additional affect of immunity (or lack thereof) in the general populace.

But it's possible to seek out new information on covid, and also to seek to stop spreading disinformation on it, while still accepting its serious nature.

[ljf]

I've not yet seen a lot of good research released due to it being so new.

It felt like we spent 3 months trying to convince doctors here that long covid was even a thing, then another couple helping them understand how they can help people like my wife and it is only that last couple of months that there has been a mobilisation of research and interest in this area, so good quality information is currently hard to find.

CoverScan.com moved quite early - https://coverscan.com/news-%26-updates - have done some great work and are starting to release info - my wife was part of the trial. I'm sure there are others, but these things take time.

I'm sure that we will have loads of useful data points next year, but right now even the collection of the data has been poor to understand anything other than just 'deaths' and in some countries 'recoveries' (which was generally just a measure of those that were ill enough to be hospitalised)

[ACow_Adonis]

No, indeed, neither have I. And it may or may not be coming or true, i don't know :) That's why I keep asking to see the evidence when I keep seeing someone making the claim: I actually want to see it if it exists or if they're just repeating the news stories.

To me, it's not the position that Covid has long term effects that's incredulous, because we know that a proportion of a lot of viral infections can develop into longer term complications and effects. But it's the idea/observation that the longer term effects are both comparatively worse than other viruses, and splitting the quantumn of those effects into a "general covid effect" (that is to say, the probability of the effect for a given case of covid), and those of a "general pandemic effect" (that is to say, the population-size effect of having all these infections happening at once due to a relatively vulnerable population with little immunity, in contrast to some of the older/other viruses).

But I admit myself a little more than disturbed how every time I ask to see comparable figures/studies to see how we have knowledge of long-term effects of a virus that's only been around for the short-term, and claims that are usually made without any reference to the viruses to which covid needs to be compared, that I generally get hit by a quick wave of downvotes.

[ljf]

Fair enough, give it time. On the inverse - SARs which this seems to be similar in some ways to (though more transmissible and less deadly) is well known to have a wide range of long term effects on a proportion of those that get ill with it.

Come join some of the long covid reddit, Facebook, slack or other groups if you want to research first hand - there are plenty out there!