[notacoward]

Very early on, I came to the conclusion that COVID is a blood disease, and subsequent findings (especially about effects on the epithelium) have generally backed that up. That means it's capable of affecting practically any organ, including the brain and various hormone-producing glands, so the myriad symptoms associated with Long COVID aren't that surprising.

More recently, I've seen some scientific back-and-forth about whether Long COVID is novel or just a form of already-known post-viral syndrome. I sort of feel like it doesn't matter. Even if it is "just" post-viral syndrome, it seems to be particularly severe and widespread. Whichever theory turns out to be correct (including the "just depression" theory), the empirical fact of Long COVID's existence has more to do with my continued caution than any fear of acute COVID. Getting older has been and will continue to be "fun" enough without that.