COVID: Top risk on the board
I am not a doctor or health professional.
I believe that for many people COVID is the top threat on the board to long term health and happiness.
COVID is why health systems are overrun, people are missing more work/school, and people are dying at higher rates (excess mortality).
COVID represents a new kind of danger in the world. There is no good analogue threat. For example the idea that COVID is “like influenza” is a popular take – you can get influenza multiple times like COVID, symptoms can be similar, but it is NOT like influenza: much deadlier and the long term damage/cumulative risk component.
COVID increases risk for other bad health outcomes (stroke, etc). Each COVID infection increases risk. It is not a binary event that you’ve had COVID.
This chart has the Hazard Ratio (“1” means no increased risk – this is the dotted line, “2” means “at double risk vs controls”). Note the large jump from “infected once” to “infected twice”.
COVID represents 100% downside risk. There is no upside.
Presently humans are unable to acquire durable immunity to Covid either by vaccination or infection. The only viable strategy is avoidance.
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Alex Lo Engineering Blog 
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