“Today rates of long COVID have dropped, likely thanks to increased immunity, milder variants and improved treatment.” I’ve been listening to TWIV (This Week in Virology) since March of 2020. I don’t think they would agree with all of that statement. 1. Increased immunity makes sense given we’ve been exposed to the disease itself and/or vaccines. 2. Milder variants - every time this idea comes up, someone on TWIV will cite data (morbidity and mortality) showing it’s just plain not the case. 3. Improved treatment - perhaps, but not much has changed since Paxlovid, Molnupirivir were introduced in late 2021. Prevention, that is, Handwashing, Masking, Distancing, and in the case of infection Isolation all help to break the chain of transmission. These are behavioral changes, that anyone can choose to do. And they are effective, just take a look at rates of influenza in 2020, when everyone was being cautious, the rates were extremely low. When we got bored with prevention the numbers came back up, e.g. 2021, 2022, and 2023. And there’s a 5th measure, Jala Neti, or Nasal Rinsing, typically with salt water, mechanically removes the virus particles, and bacteria. Adding a small amount of 1% Baby Shampoo to the Neti solution does a lot to inactivate viruses, and kill bacteria.
Ya gotta build a bridge to understanding, and then to action. Besides, I spent a fair amount of that verbiage reviewing the 4 Behavioral Changes That Effing Worked.
“Today rates of long COVID have dropped, likely thanks to increased immunity, milder variants and improved treatment.” I’ve been listening to TWIV (This Week in Virology) since March of 2020. I don’t think they would agree with all of that statement. 1. Increased immunity makes sense given we’ve been exposed to the disease itself and/or vaccines. 2. Milder variants - every time this idea comes up, someone on TWIV will cite data (morbidity and mortality) showing it’s just plain not the case. 3. Improved treatment - perhaps, but not much has changed since Paxlovid, Molnupirivir were introduced in late 2021. Prevention, that is, Handwashing, Masking, Distancing, and in the case of infection Isolation all help to break the chain of transmission. These are behavioral changes, that anyone can choose to do. And they are effective, just take a look at rates of influenza in 2020, when everyone was being cautious, the rates were extremely low. When we got bored with prevention the numbers came back up, e.g. 2021, 2022, and 2023. And there’s a 5th measure, Jala Neti, or Nasal Rinsing, typically with salt water, mechanically removes the virus particles, and bacteria. Adding a small amount of 1% Baby Shampoo to the Neti solution does a lot to inactivate viruses, and kill bacteria.
Citation: Lowering the transmission and spread of human coronavirus - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32940907/
Long comment just to try to get people to rinse out their nasty nose.
Ya gotta build a bridge to understanding, and then to action. Besides, I spent a fair amount of that verbiage reviewing the 4 Behavioral Changes That Effing Worked.