The future of covid (caution, may be bleak)

[butterscotch]

This article is looking at the future of covid. Will it be like the flu? Considering people still get it after getting vaccinated, even multiple times, will it just become a fact of life?

A lot is still unknown but the author of this article surmises that people will be getting covid again and again, even with herd immunity.

One scientist’s guess is that people will get it every three years.

Aubree Gordon, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, told me that her best guess for the future has the virus infiltrating each of us, on average, every three years or so. “Barring some intervention that really changes the landscape,” she said, “we will all get SARS-CoV-2 multiple times in our life.”

Some people surmise that it could be like getting a cold. But others are taking into account long covid which can impair people for a lot longer than a cold.

Or maybe not. This virus seems capable of tangling into just about every tissue in the body, affecting organs such as the heart, brain, liver, kidneys, and gut; it has already claimed the lives of millions, while saddling countless others with symptoms that can linger for months or years. Experts think the typical SARS-CoV-2 infection is likely to get less dangerous, as population immunity builds and broadens. But considering our current baseline, “less dangerous” could still be terrible—and it’s not clear exactly where we’re headed. When it comes to reinfection, we “just don’t know enough,” says Emily Landon, an infectious-disease physician at the University of Chicago.

One scientist says that the more times people get it, the more likely they are to have long term effects.

Al-Aly sees cause for worry either way. He is now running studies to track the long-term consequences of repeat encounters with the virus, and although the data are still emerging, he thinks that people who have caught the virus twice or thrice may be more likely to become long-haulers than those who have had it just once.

Not enough is known to determine if reinfection will cause problems.

SARS-CoV-2 may yet become another common-cold coronavirus, no more likely to screw with its hosts the fifth time it infects them than the first. But that’s no guarantee. The outlooks of the experts I spoke with spanned the range from optimism to pessimism, though all agreed that uncertainty loomed. Until we know more, none were keen to gamble with the virus—or with their own health. Any reinfection will likely still pose a threat, “even if it’s not the worst-case scenario,” Abdool Karim told me. “I wouldn’t want to put myself in that position.”

You Are Going to Get COVID Again … And Again … And Again

[SilverTabby]

Never had it - don’t plan on having it - and don’t believe all the media hype about it!

[Maree]

Well, at risk of being another Bad News Betty, I think it’s going to shorten our life expectancy

Old people get it worse, get worse long term symptoms and are more likely to die from it

And we all get older every year so it’s another thing that’s likely to polish us off in our weakened and decrepit years!

There, I bet you all feel a lot better now, don’t you?

[Primus1]

One of the carers where I work has had it four times, not from the residents either…

[Maree]

@Primus1

One of the carers where I work has had it four times, not from the residents either…

I have two friends who’ve had it twice within six months. They are in their early forties but it’s really taken it out of them

People may not be dying of it but it’s still nasty, worse than flu, I think

[Mups]

And next winter there will no doubt be more new variants, just like the flu vaccine has to be tweaked every year.

[SilverTabby]

I received a letter from NHS today inviting me to have another ‘booster’ - they can keep it - not going there.

[spitfire]

Go and get it Tabby, if you have had some dose, nothing to lose, from here on in.

[ruthio]

@SilverTabby

I received a letter from NHS today inviting me to have another ‘booster’ - they can keep it - not going there.

I had one, ignored it, now I’ve had a reminder.
Don’t know what to do, fed up with being jabbed, do I really need a 4th one?

[Muddy]

@Maree

And we all get older every year so it’s another thing that’s likely to polish us off in our weakened and decrepit years!

It’s being so cheerful that keeps you going

[LongDriver]

@SilverTabby

I received a letter from NHS today inviting me to have another ‘booster’ - they can keep it - not going there.

That was my view too, until I discovered that the latest variant was spreading swiftly in my neck of the woods, so when the vaccination centre rang, I decided to accept. This time around I had the Modena vaccine

[Mups]

@LongDriver

. This time around I had the Modena vaccine

And how were you afterwards LD?
Did you get any unpleasant reaction?

[Bruce]

I received my 4th Covid dose on Tuesday. I have now had two Astra Zeneca and two Pfizer boosters. I’m stripped down and raring to go!

Funny thing I haven’t had a reaction to any of the previous shots except a sore arm but I did have a slight (and I mean slight) fever the following day.

[LongDriver]

@Mups

And how were you afterwards LD?
Did you get any unpleasant reaction?

About the same following the Pfizer booster. Heavy sore arm and slight off feeling the following day. Other than that, I was firing on all cylinders by the next day following the feeling off period.

[Mups]

Glad you were OK, LD.

[SilverTabby]

@LongDriver

Modena

That settles it for me - if they’re using that one I am definitely not going!