Yes, it's true that after a person recovers from the first infection, the second one us most often milder. From what I've read on the subject, it's too early to tell if long covid is less likely from Omicron too. I've seen opinions fall either way.
Infection preventionists and other health care professionals once again on the frontlines battling a COVID-19 surge need be wary of “mild” symptoms that could haunt them in the long run.
www.infectioncontroltoday.com
Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, an infectious disease expert and a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, has been saying throughout the pandemic that COVID-19 will devolve into a seasonal nuisance like the common cold and influenza. She told ICT® in a Q&A in September that “if you study the history of infectious diseases … there has not been a single infection that we have not been able to get through if they don’t infect the immune system or if we have an adequate vaccine. If you develop an effective vaccine for an infection, even in the face of vaccine hesitancy, lack of vaccine uptake, you are going to get there because immunity is the only thing that gets you through the pandemic.”
On the other hand, some health care professionals warn that the system should brace itself for an onslaught of long COVID cases in February, after the current Omicron surge subsides, as many experts predict.
Bruce Patterson, MD, who works for the Chronic COVID Treatment Center, says it is too soon to determine whether Omicron can cause long COVID, but believes it will follow the same route as Delta in that regard.
Kavanagh writes for ICT® that “much of the abandonment of public health measures has been spurred by a massive disinformation campaign which has successfully convinced a relatively large portion of our population that as long as one lives through COVID-19 all will be well. The young and healthy have especially embraced this narrative.”
It is a false narrative, Kavanagh warns, because “the premise that mild infections do not carry significant risks is false. In part this belief is driven by those who have not died from COVID-19 being counted as ‘recovered’ as opposed to ‘survived’. SARS-CoV-2 causes a system infection and is commonly detected in the heart and brain, exemplified by the loss of smell from brain tissue destruction and loss of cardiac function from myocarditis. Even those who develop ‘mild’ COVID-19 can develop long COVID-19 which in many cases lasts for a year or longer.”
That was published four days ago. So, I don't know what to believe regarding long covid and Omicron right now. I do know that long covid sucks. Maybe we'll know more in a few months. I'm living a secluded life until we know more on this subject and I feel the risk is acceptable. That is not possible for everyone and I'm not judging anybody if they get infected regardless of vaccinatoin status. These are hard times and most are doing what they think is best for them.
