So, what the hell did we go through all of this for? I expected another wave of either anger or hilarity regarding the new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued earlier this month about COVID: we can pretty much treat this viral infection like the flu. Remember, it was not long ago that even uttering such a thing could land you in social media jail or be branded a science denier. The footnote for the COVID pandemic will be that the people were right, and the experts were wrong.
Masking is grossly ineffective. The vaccine is no more effective than the seasonal flu shot. You can still get infected, but it might save someone a trip to the ICU. That’s fine, but the cocktail was marketed as a bulletproof vest against infection. Ivermectin was long dismissed as an effective therapeutic—but it works. What’s the next shoe to drop? Long COVID—it’s a myth. Or at least a new Australian study strongly urges we ditch talking about it (via NYT):
Follow the science — right out the door.
The term “long COVID” should be tossed aside like a stack of expired N95 masks — that’s according to health experts in one country, who found that symptoms of those reportedly suffering a year on weren’t any different than your typical virus, such as the flu.
Government-backed medical researchers in Australia say it’s time to stop using the fear-inducing phrase, which became popular after high volumes of people testing positive for COVID-19 led to a surge in generally non-severe “virus fatigue symptoms” that would normally have gone unnoticed, South West News Service reported.
“We believe it is time to stop using terms like ‘Long COVID’,” said Dr. John Gerrard, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, who oversaw the newly-released study.
“They wrongly imply there is something unique and exceptional about longer term symptoms associated with this virus,” he explained.
[…]
Researchers at Queensland Health surveyed 5,112 symptom sufferers aged 18 years and older to reach their conclusion.
Symptoms reported included fatigue, brain fog, cough, shortness of breath, change to smell and taste, dizziness, and rapid or irregular heartbeat.
Researchers pulled their subjects from a pool of sick Australians who’d taken COVID-19 tests — testing both positive and negative — in late spring of 2022, quizzing them a year later on their symptoms and quality of life.
[…]
No evidence was found that adults who tested positive in 2022 were experiencing this increased level of impairment at a higher rate than those who tested negative, or those who simply had the flu.
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So, please explain why we should listen to these people ever again. I got conned into getting the COVID vaccine despite being more than adequately protected through natural immunity stemming from my past infection in December of 2020. And it so happens that the science later determined that anyone who had survived initial infection didn’t need the shot. These experts destroyed their credibility with the public to ensure that Biden beat Trump. Medical experts are now viewed as being no better than the talking heads from the Democratic National Committee, and rightfully so.
How It Started vs. How It’s Going pic.twitter.com/jiqoN7ofdY
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) March 2, 2024
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