News about Long Covid including its relationship to ME/CFS 2020 to 2021

Independent SAGE briefing from 23rd July, focusing more on Long COVID. Includes some mentions of ME, nothing that I thought particularly noteworthy, apart from one "ooooh, it's a terribly difficult area to work in" type of comment.

Code:

https://youtu.be/omJP53VAQcw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omJP53VAQcw

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1418696473177362432

 

I'm seeing a growing number of people reporting LC symptoms after vaccination. Are those symptoms caused by vaccines? No one knows. Could they have been caused by mild or asymptomatic infection that went unnoticed and was worsened by the vaccine? No one knows either.

But until people find out for good many are speculating, for the same reason why some people are claiming they recovered from exercise/fasting/niacine/whatever: it's the only correlation they can see. Also the same reason why some people push other weird things, from drinking aged urine to gaslighting CBT for chronic disease, without science to determine what's true, it's all about who has the better marketing program for their particular beliefs.

No doubt this will be used by the antivaccine crowd. And with good reason, in that it's easy picking without a firm answer. Uncertainty brings incoherence like this, is bad overall for the public good. And this is largely happening because of a delusional fantasy that not talking about it means it won't be a problem (no point asking why the problem remains, they don't care and have no pressure to provide any coherent reason), a belief system reinforced by being able to then point out that no such reports exist.

Will Richard Horton and The Lancet manage to fuel the antivaccine crowd not just once, kickstarting it, but twice, amplifying it? Appears so. Not alone on this later chapter but still, imagine being responsible for this and not only keeping your job but being praised as a courageous disinformation fighter. Rewarding failure looks just as bad in real life as it sounds.

 

On the topic of things that could get litigious. Maybe this is not a problem at all. but it would be hard to argue that due diligence was done in not bothering to find out, at least for anyone with a modicum of integrity. There is a similar issue with blood donations and ME being banned, though the ban not being taken seriously should be particularly litigious. Does it apply to LC? Does anyone care to check? Does it matter that it is technically in effect in many countries for ME, which should apply to pwLC who do have ME? Considering that people aren't told and authorities don't take it seriously? Who's responsible when no one cares? Should the patients care? No one wants to inflict that on others, however unlikely/unknown it may be.

It's an issue I'm dealing with right now preparing a will (no issues, just being prepared). I'm opting out for transplants, too much unknown. Sure would be nice to know. Of course brain transplants are not a thing but the growing evidence for brain damage probably has downstream consequences, especially if one significant issue has to do with poor oxygenation, which would affect any tissue.

However doing this coercively is especially bad.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1418634283519029249

 

Indeed. I suspect long-covid may become politicized in very extreme ways. I hope I'm wrong about that.

 

It seems to be the much larger anti-lockdown "we need to live with the virus" crowd who frequently deny that long-covid is a thing, or think that everyone is going to magically recover 100% within a few months.

 

Decide to look at the number of cases in Australia, after all the media coverage - no disrespect, but they made me a laugh - 200 cases a day ---50K in the UK.

 

We're having a 7 day lockdown over 3 community cases and guess what? It's worked.

 

Good to hear it's working but you wouldn't believe it i.e. based on the media coverage here.

 

I keep seeing UK people saying "but low deaths" therefore everything is fine, but the UK has had more deaths in the last 3 weeks than Australia has had in total throughout the entire pandemic. And the Australia has 37% of the population of the UK...

Of course, even if just 1-2% of COVID cases become long-term ME/CFS cases, then that is a major catastrophe in the UK...

 

Anti-lockdown measures and anti-masks, too. The overlap is surprisingly almost perfect. And likely the same overlap of people who think chronic illness is laughable. It's "the fear is worse" crowd that doesn't seem bothered that obvious trolls agree with them at every turn.

There's some sort of pattern here... almost like some sort of psychological projection and generalization from their personal navel-gazing experience. Almost.

 

More than 25 000 have been diagnosed with postcovid in Sweden. That is 2,4 cases per 1 000 people.

Över 25 000 svenskar har fått diagnosen postcovid
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/over-25000-personer-har-fatt-diagnosen-postcovid

But so far only 7 out of 21 regions have special clinics for postcovid.

 

Doubtful this is much more than words but we'll see, this would be the very first chronic illness to have such a recognition.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1419685687259979780

 

Uuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it takes such a long time to see through the BS.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1419583359748018177

 

If what he means is that the people with Long Covid will now have the right to legal redress for civil rights violations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, that could be a big deal.

 

The lawyers will love that. Why would the law discriminate against those with practically identical symptoms.

 

Since Sweden had only very mild lockdowns/ social distancing rules I'm curious: Are there attempts in Sweden, too, blaming LC on mental health issues due to restrictions?

 

Yes, there are. The most common claim still seem to be that LC is a "cultural illness" caused by stress/anxiety and the so called "fearmongering by mass media and on social media", I think?

 

Over 450 key workers with long Covid tell MPs of their struggles

"Nurses, teachers, GPs and police officers among those to give evidence to cross-party inquiry.

[...]

One in five of the 460 key workers who responded to the call for evidence by the all party parliamentary group (APPG) on coronavirus said they had been off work for a year or more as a result long Covid, 30% for between six months and a year, and 25% for between three and six months."