this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2026
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Today I Learned

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Over 90% of those deaths are Americans.

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[–] Eq0@literature.cafe 60 points 3 days ago (6 children)

These are insane numbers! Somehow the long covid ones are the ones that scare me the most. An ex colleague of mine got long covid after an infection in 2023-2024 (when covid “was over”). She now has so much brain fog she can’t live independently anymore… scary shit

[–] fluckx@lemmy.world 45 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Indeed.... I know somebody who else has it and is just energy starved like crazy. If she goes anywhere she just crashes in the evening and needs 3 days to recover. Doing anything is basically wondering whether its worth it to crash for 2 days afterwards...

And the research for it has dropped. So its basically an "I hope it passes this month" by the doctors as there's no actual treatment (apparently).

[–] Zarobi@aussie.zone 12 points 3 days ago

Sounds like ME/CFS. I have that, it sucks dick. Had to go to the doctor in-person on Monday, and it fucked me up until today (Saturday). Normally I do phone consult, but The System says No sometimes. The only treatment is "try not to trigger symptoms and hope you recover" like it's the 1800's 😂 like at least give me opium or something

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The research is actually still picking up. Otherwise you are spot on.

[–] fluckx@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

Oh that's good to hear!

I've heard it from them, but maybe there's not that much being done in our area/country to find a solution for long covid ( or maybe there is and we just don't know about it/have any breakthroughs ).

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The weekly infections isn't so bad. That means everyone catching it once every 2 years on average. I assumed it would be an annual or semi annual thing.

However, the world is forever changed. I was recently on holiday in Bali with my mother in law. She was quite unwell with cocid like symptoms. Couldn't get a test anywhere. The locals would sell anything if they could make a buck, as they are mostly subsitence living. I assume it's a policy.

I know they are still available in Australia but they are less prevalent and nobody bothers testing or isolating if they are. People think it's just a cold as they don't personally get very sick. The selfishness and lack of scientific and medical understanding in the age of information is an indctment of humanity.

This is the misinformation age.

[–] FundMECFS@piefed.zip 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I got long covid in 2022 as a healthy athlete. I’ve been bedridden ever since.

[–] mrmisses@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Please tell me you forgot the /s

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

its called sequelae, alot of viruses can cause post-viral syndromes, long covid is the unofficial term. i believe it triggered my atopic dermatitis more early than usual.

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I was chatting with someone recently with lots of long covod symptoms. They were mild but persistent for over a year. Her doctor said it's not long covid as too mild. I was thinking to myself, isn't everything on a spectrum. If her match, it's covid, unless he has an alternative answer. Unless you see black and white, it's horwes, not zebras.

[–] FundMECFS@piefed.zip 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

As always, diagnoses are simplified medical/social constructs that don’t fully capture the reality.

and it doesn’t help that there’s loads of prejudice against Long COVID in medicine.

[–] YeahToast@aussie.zone 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I wouldn't say it's just long COVID there's prejudice against. It's a lot of the hidden disorders -ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, POTS, ehlers-danlos syndrome etc etc. I think long COVID has brought more interest and research to some of the other conditions

[–] FundMECFS@piefed.zip 1 points 1 day ago

Hahhaha. If you check my username, you might be inclined to see I agree. :)

[–] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

i track that website, as well as wastewater surveilance to give me some idea of how careful I need to be, week by week.

[–] moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What metrics do you use? Like, what's the line at which you wear a mask?

I used to go by number of infections per 100,000 but I can't find that anymore and I feel lost.

[–] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Question: "infections per 100,000" - with what disease? in what time or spacial frame? Personally and professionally I'm not just concerned with SARS-CoV-2. What disease? What sort of exposures are likely for you? Influenza is not yet on the rise, but likely will be. When it starts up get your vax, you'll likely get about 3 months of protection. If you have immune issues, consider a second flu shot in 3-4 months. Masking, handwashing. Rotavirus sucks, but handwashing takes care of most of the risk. Measles? Get your vax!

Time and intensity are important. Are you going to be outdoors, with a small distantly space group and/or over a shorter time frame? Is this event/ time with a larger group, lots of heavy breathing (gym, singing, use your imagination), indoors, for a longer period of time?

Many infectious diseases have post acute syndromes. Consider which of those is worth the risk to your life and those around you. Beyond the acute phase: a comprehensive literature review of long-term sequelae resulting from infectious diseases https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10864624/#s3 Then mask up.

At the moment PMC19 modeling shows that we are in the beginning of the 13th peak in Covid19. Ask yourself, do you wish to participate in this peak, or no?
If no then mask up.

Go a little more granular, local, small, find the waste water surveillance for your county, if it's available. Look at the county level for PMC19, which alas is from the previous weeks data. PCR takes time to run. Same for waste water surveillance.

Consider if your town is a big tourist destination/ had a big influx recently for some big event. My town has huge events nearly every weekend of the Summer, which attracts people from other areas. I generally avoid such events, since 2020. And if I decide to go, I wear a mask.

Consider where you are going: Regardless of those numbers, anyplace where large numbers gather (big group choral event), or large numbers pass through (grocery store), wear a mask.

Consider how much your death from cardiovascular disease, which is increased for 3 months post covid19, yes even a mild case, will mean to those around you. Also consider how much the death of someone you care about will mean when you get a mild/ asymptomatic and pass it along to them, e.g. your unvaccinated!?! elder parent.

Consider social implication in a small group - does everyone vs anyone vs no one in that group do anything useful in preventing the spread of infectious disease, e.g. testing, masking, handwashing, vaccination, participate or not if obviously sick (oh it's just a sniffle, oh, it's just allergies, oh X obvious symptom goes without any change in behavior whatsoever).

Apparently I can keep going on this, and have probably already "flooded the zone". These are some consideration.

tl;dr - wash hands, wear a mask, get vaxxed, avoid exposure to ignorant people who don't give a care for themselves or for you.

[–] moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I wear a mask anytime I'm inside with anyone outside my bubble since 2020. Which means I haven't eaten at a restaurant without good outdoor seating in 6 years, which is annoying for my friends.

The covid vaccine is no longer available in my country.

I always said I'd remove the mask when the number of covid infections dropped below 1 case per 1 million people. Now that countries don't track infections, I don't know how to translate that boundary into waste water testing or whatever data we have today.

[–] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Same with me, and restaurants. I hang with friends outside, turns out that was mostly a good choice.

Ok, so back to my questions: 1 case of what, per million people over what time frame? There were over a million or more C19 new daily infections during the 4th thru 12th waves of this disease. We are over 500K new daily infections per day and 3.69 million cases per week, and rising on the current, 13th peak. Per the graph on pmc19.com.

According to (https://www.statista.com/statistics/861113/estimated-number-of-flu-cases-us/) each flu season in the US from 2011 t0 2025 had from 9.4 to 51 million cases. Take a look at that graph, especially 21/22 to 24/25. When the numbers start to rise, or as soon as now get your flu vax, and... wash your hands, wear a mask.

My point being there are common diseases, Covid19, Influenza A, Influenza B and others, which will outright kill a person, or give them post acute effects that will kill, or disable.

[–] moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'm not worried about getting some short-term, non-chronic infection of influenza or covid. I'm worried about getting long covid. Or giving any of that to someone else who is more immune comprised than myself.

My boundary is 1 person testing positive for covid in one day per 1 million in my region (roughly 100 km or so from my work/home). If we had a few weeks pass were less than 1 person per 1 million people were positive for covid 19 per day, I'd feel the risk was low enough to eat inside a restaurant.

[–] im_fine_sandy@nord.pub 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Brain fog doesn't seem like the best term, it needs something more clinical.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

long covid isnt a medical term, i thinks it called sequelae for complications outside of an infeciton.

[–] FundMECFS@piefed.zip 0 points 2 days ago

Long COVID is actually a medical term. Look it up on the WHO.

But some diagnostic classification systems use “Post-COVID Condition” or “Long-term sequelae of COVID-19”