I would also add a few factors that likely mean that this is an upper bound:
1. As noted this is without vaccination
2. The mean age in the study is 60-65 (depending on the regression)
3. There is inherent bias in testing uptake (case ascertainment) over the period of the study early in the pandemic. This means the sample is inevitably skewed towards more severe cases (and will miss a very large fraction of asymptomatic cases) than either the population of Covid positive individuals or the sample of positive covid people today (as now testing is abundant).
This is not to say that the study is wrong that COVID increases one's risk of heart disease but for me the language used in the interview does seem inappropriate.
I would also add a few factors that likely mean that this is an upper bound: 1. As noted this is without vaccination 2. The mean age in the study is 60-65 (depending on the regression) 3. There is inherent bias in testing uptake (case ascertainment) over the period of the study early in the pandemic. This means the sample is inevitably skewed towards more severe cases (and will miss a very large fraction of asymptomatic cases) than either the population of Covid positive individuals or the sample of positive covid people today (as now testing is abundant).
This is not to say that the study is wrong that COVID increases one's risk of heart disease but for me the language used in the interview does seem inappropriate.