persistent infection

The climate news recently is too heartbreaking for me to focus on right now.  So how about some lighthearted SARS-CoV-2 news instead?

A year ago, somebody posted a question at Oxford Open Immunology, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 infection is persistent, like it was in SARS-CoV-1. Which you already think is true, if you've been listening to me for years. More recently, this article compiles a long list of studies that say the same thing: viral persistence explains the conditions we see. They do, however, waver and suggest logically-possible alternatives that might also be at work.

But so what? I mean, most of us adults still have chickenpox virus too, and that's no big deal after the initial illness is over, right? (Until you develop painful shingles when the virus reactivates.) And most people get over SARS-CoV-2 just fine, right? After all, 40% of all cases are even asymptomatic. Well, unless maybe you don't improve at all after the initial infection, while still continuing to get infected multiple times, causing increasing risks with reinfections. And what happens if this lingering virus reactivates? Well, if you've been listening to me for years, then you know to expect more blood clots, just like India is warning. News of cardiac and other issues is being discussed in Australia (free archive copy) and other countries, at long last.

How bad is it here in the USA? It's so bad we're proposing to undercount how many citizens are disabled. And whatever is killing middle-aged adults in the USA... *deep breath for sarcasm*... it's most absolutely and definitely not COVID (the brief infection/illness stage), so stop asking, you Debbie Downer.

Stay safe out there.