General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Mask up everyone! NOW! [View all]Ms. Toad
(34,070 posts)Almost half of ALL (between 37% and 49%, depending on the study). Among those hospitalized, those experiencing long COVID were more than half. And in some of the studies of long-term consequences, the individuals were not even aware they had had COVID - so as to some of the risks, it makes no difference whether there is current testing. The risks are based on disease-created antibodies.
COVID is much less of an IMMEDIATE threat to you. It is way too early to suggest it is less of a danger. We have only been studying it 2 years - and we are finding more and more long-term consequences. The most recent two I'm aware of is shingles (including among the population too young to be vaccinated) and cancer. This is on top of an increased risk of strokes, heart incidents, loss of brain matter, and both memory/mental health brain disorders.
Those kind of risks are not associated with the flu. So it is far too early to start comparing it to the dangers of the flu season. Influenza has been around pretty much forever, and we don't see those kinds of risks created by the flu. We have collected the long term COVID risks noted above above based on 2 years of data. The number of long-term consequences we establish will only increase in the future.