> loss of smell is rare
Not sure if 20% (at least for the original strain) qualifies as rare. And, it doesn't matter if it goes away after months, the question is - is there long term neurological damage from that process.
> reducing oxygen intake via masks
This is not true. Breathing is more difficult but oxygen intake is the same. Especially for n95 designs which have really tiny volume
> I'm also not sure what you're expecting in terms of taking it "seriously"
I mean that there is real chance of serious brain damage and long term consequences due to neuroinvasion. Instead we're thinking of COVID as if its the flu or cold.
> My speculation is that many illnesses like the common cold have similar side effects, but we're only now rigorously studying and measuring them because of the prominence of COVID-19 in the public's mind.
In one of the brain studies, they specifically compared with flu. With COVID, T-cells are found in the brain (i.e. neuroinflammation): https://twitter.com/fitterhappierAJ/status/14071437500323635... - with flu, there isn't anything like that at all.
And this is precisely what I mean - its in the general mindset to treat SARS-2 like the flu. We think flu, we think fatality rates etc - we dismiss long term consequences, we dismiss long covid brain fog as psychological. I think that's a fatal mistake. It may not be Polio exactly, but it should be placed at similar distance from the flu in our minds.
The writing is all over the wall, but we're in optimistic denial, trying to cope, grasping at any (sophisticated) potential straws.
Not sure if 20% (at least for the original strain) qualifies as rare. And, it doesn't matter if it goes away after months, the question is - is there long term neurological damage from that process.
> reducing oxygen intake via masks
This is not true. Breathing is more difficult but oxygen intake is the same. Especially for n95 designs which have really tiny volume
> I'm also not sure what you're expecting in terms of taking it "seriously"
I mean that there is real chance of serious brain damage and long term consequences due to neuroinvasion. Instead we're thinking of COVID as if its the flu or cold.
> My speculation is that many illnesses like the common cold have similar side effects, but we're only now rigorously studying and measuring them because of the prominence of COVID-19 in the public's mind.
In one of the brain studies, they specifically compared with flu. With COVID, T-cells are found in the brain (i.e. neuroinflammation): https://twitter.com/fitterhappierAJ/status/14071437500323635... - with flu, there isn't anything like that at all.
And this is precisely what I mean - its in the general mindset to treat SARS-2 like the flu. We think flu, we think fatality rates etc - we dismiss long term consequences, we dismiss long covid brain fog as psychological. I think that's a fatal mistake. It may not be Polio exactly, but it should be placed at similar distance from the flu in our minds.
The writing is all over the wall, but we're in optimistic denial, trying to cope, grasping at any (sophisticated) potential straws.