Few parents would willingly sign their preschooler (or themselves) up for intellectual disabilities, type-1 diabetes, or chronic fatigue syndrome.
[1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5...
[2] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7102e2.htm
[3] https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/01/08/lo...
Yes, I have seen many preliminary studies linking Covid to many different long-term health problems [1]. Personally, and especially as Covid has been around for over 2 years at this point, I strongly prefer to avoid the obvious long-term damage caused to my kids by the disruption of their academic and social development.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/10/01/restless-an...
[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/11/18/1055071...
Given the incredible age-based disparity in severity of Covid, I wonder if any of those results (such as they are) are even applicable to our discussion.
https://vinayprasadmdmph.substack.com/p/does-covid19-cause-d...
We'll get long term data, after a long term has passed.
And yes, there are always going to be >0 people with permanent organ damage. Because disease progression in a human host is a complex system. But what actually matters is the incidence rate at scale.
Or, to put it another way, everyone has a >0 chance of winning the lottery, but does that mean they should invest in lottery tickets?
https://dom-pubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dom.142...
I wouldn't be surprised if there's lower incidence of chronic complications than Delta and earlier variants, though. Long COVID seems to be associated with (but not unique to) more severe cases. If there's pneumonia or ARDS, there's a much easier pathway into the bloodstream than if it infects mucus membrane tissue in the upper airways. It likely can still cause long COVID, but at a lower rate corresponding to its generally lower severity.
Obviously, full studies of long-term effects are lacking, since Omicron has only been out for a month and a half.
Diabetes has been documented as a symptom of cytomegalovirus (mono), mumps, rubella, rotavirus, and enteroviruses (polio and hand-foot-mouth). Fatigue is a symptom of lyme disease and mono.
I don't want my kids to get any of those either, and they were vaccinated for mumps, rubella, rotavirus, and polio by age 1. If I have the choice of being cautious for 3 months until a vaccine is available for COVID, I'll take it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytomegalovirus
Most cases of mono are caused by EBV, but CMV primarily presents as mono, and sometimes pneumonia.
EBV/mono is another common childhood illness with lots of nasty potential chronic complications, including lymphoma, other cancers, CFS, and autoimmune diseases like lupus, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.
There is a lack of data on the long term effects of the disease, as well as the recommended treatment.
I have no idea. I'm not an expert. And no experts seem to be talking. Our preschool recently switched from a 14 day shutdown to 7 day plus negative PCR test to re-enter. At least there's that?
> Frankly, our kids get enough other diseases from nursery that a months-long scratchy cough doesn't sound too terrifying.
We'll have to agree to disagree there. My kids have never had anything that's lasted for months, the kid I know with the cough was waking up in the middle of the night coughing most nights. No thank you.
Our youngest also had Croup last year, which is pretty scary if you don't know it. It shows up as a horrible, barking cough, and can make it look like your baby is suddenly struggling to breathe. We panicked and called an ambulance. The little one was just fine, but had the horrible cough (which is much worse at night) for a while.
Once our pre-school care re-opened (it was shut for many months after March 2020) and the regular diseases started circulation again, it felt like we were ill for several months, albeit with different diseases. We'd send our kids in on Monday, and wait to see what we'd have for the weekend...
I'm not saying this to complain - as I see it, this is the reality of life with the little snot-nosed monsters.
Every single one of those kids at drop-off and pickup has a runny nose. I am pretty sure we have an informal agreement amongst all the parents that no one gets their kid tested for COVID. It is one thing to do all this song and dance without an available vaccine, but it has been widely available for over a year.
The vast majority of those in ICUs and morgues are unvaccinated.
Where I live (Wales), total ICU usage right now is 77%. The absolute numbers are very small. If you want to make an argument that people should not add an un-necessary burden on the health services, then why restrict the discussion to Covid?
Parent of 2 very young kids here btw - it's been brutal, I feel your pain. Frankly, our kids get enough other diseases from nursery that a months-long scratchy cough doesn't sound too terrifying.