Originally Posted by pondering_it_all
"Pandemic is over" is the latest big lie. People are tired of the pandemic, so they WISH it was over. There are still a lot of infections, and a lot of people dying. Some places in the country are on the downslope. Others are not. Millions of people are still suffering from Long Covid. As I predicted about a month ago, the immunologically naive are almost depleted, so there are fewer opportunities for the virus to wreck havok. But there are still a ton of the immunosuppressed, older folks with co-morbidities, babies who were not passively immunized via breast milk, etc. Immunized people are going to continue to get mostly mild infections, but some will have a more difficult time. Some will die, since vaccination response is not uniform.

The latest news is we are starting to get more Paxlovid. It is reserved for patients with indications they will progress to serious illness, but I think that will change. Even asymptomatic cases can end up with Long Covid! So there is no such thing as "a case that won't progress". Just cases that probably won't progress. The percentage of people who get infected that end up with Long Covid is shocking.

You're looking at a COVID Long Haul Zombie right here.
I feel like 50% of what I used to be...brain reduced to mush, heart and lungs that perform like the equivalent of a V8 running on seven cylinders and which hasn't had an oil change in 80 thousand miles, still no sense of smell or...maybe 15% of what it used to be.
It's like that scene with Uncle Ellis in "No Country For Old Men"...

"All the time you spend trying to get back what's took from you, more is going out the door.
After a while you just try and get a tourniquet on it.”

[Linked Image from journeysindarknessandlight.files.wordpress.com]

I feel a lot like old Uncle Ellis now.

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