"PS: unsubscribe from this substack, you lunatic." Hahahaha. Spot on. I'm still amazed by people who've had covid and still wear masks. What the hell? I blame the CDC and PH for continuing to deny or minimize the protection from previous infection. They clearly don't see the studies.
I thought about this the same thing today when at Costco… Of course most people unmasked… Some people still masking… I think to myself is every single person that I see masked undergoing chemotherapy for cancer or something similar where they are super weak… But yet still walking around at Costco? Or are they living with somebody and in direct contact with a super vulnerable person…? we could take the cloth mask and surgical mask people out because that’s just stupid if that was the case… But all the folks in N95 & Kn95? Could there really be that many super vulnerable people? or just super brainwashed people?
I can recall wearing a mask as I was getting chemo. But those were early days. In the later days no need for the mask nor a visit to a store, too debilitated for that. Still it was a worry. Whether the mask did anything, who knows.
For CoV, I wore the mask when I had to. I was quite aware it couldn't be effective and started a sanitation regime after every public outing. No idea if that works either. For all I know I might be immune anyway. Pity we haven't been able to know who might be immune but we know they exist despite Dr Prasad's assertions. He .is probably correct that if you are among the vulnerable you likely have been infected by now.
And you probably made wise decisions based on that risk. As you should.
I agree on the immunity thing. I mean, I don't think recovering from covid is perfect immunity by any stretch. A friend of mine has had it 3 times (or tested positive, at least), each a year apart. She had it rough the first time. The other two were caught by testing at work (in healthcare), or she would have thought it was allergies. So, really, even if we have antibody or t-cell tests, that doesn't mean we can't get a new variant, just like the colds we get all the time. Studies show most reinfections to be minor, as expected.
I am sure some of them are in that position, but definitely not all of them. I'm going with super brainwashed for many. I know a guy who still thinks zero covid is possible.
Yes!! This is spot on!! My son tested positive last Sunday and his doctor told us to make sure to isolate him in his room and avoid exposure to him - he is a twin and shares his room with his twin - so we did not follow his doctor’s orders - we went on with life as usual, and guess what? No one else got symptoms and he had a cough for couple of days, felt blah for one day, and then was perfectly fine! It’s amazing to me that these doctors we trusted all of our lives are getting things so wrong these days… kind of makes it hard to know who we can trust and who we should not… thank you, Dr. Prasad, for always being so knowledgeable and willing to share your wisdom!
I had covid in January, I was double vaxed, so it felt like I had the flu for a day, but that was about it. I asked my doctor if I should get boosted, now that I had it. she said wait a month, then "definitely get a booster". It was then I realized it might be time to get a doctor that thinks independently and actually evaluates research.
Oh my goodness - yes, I completely agree! Our doctor also told me to make sure my son (who is also fully vaccinated) gets a booster - he told me to “wait two weeks and then get him boosted” and I wanted so badly to ask him, isn’t he getting boosted right now since he is positive for Covid? But I kept my mouth shut… were you able to find a good doctor? It seems all of the independently thinking doctors who are not captured by the CDC are working Concierge… and we unfortunately can’t afford that for our family of four…
I found a provider who combines functional medicine with more traditional western medicine, she's great, but not everything is covered by insurance. Thankfully, my son's pedi was in agreement that infection was sufficient immunity for my young, health boys, at least for now.
I have long told my patients to just go on as they would have gone on with a cold for the past decades. Many will listen. Some will not.
I had two patients back to back last Friday that tested positive. I told them both just to rest when they felt sick (as they always would have) and all would be well. One went elsewhere and got Paxlovid although I told him it was not worth the risk/expense/time. Three days later, both felt just fine.
One was thrilled he skipped the Paxlovid. The other thought it had saved him. When I pointed out the confirmation bias, I got the usual shrug. It will take a long time, but well written pieces like this help. Thanks Vinay.
My wife brought it home from a group trip to NYC. I didn't wear a mask, but did start a prophylactic regimen of Ivermectin, Quercetin, Zinc, and Melatonin. I had one bad day, but have recovered for the most part testing fairly positive after the fifth day.
Amen VP!! This may be your best most direct post yet! This needs to be shared by all that follow! Perhaps it will reach another MD who is seeing especially young healthy patients every day for yearly checkups…and might stop and say… Wait …yeah why WOULDN’T I tell my patient something similar to this?! Why haven’t I been saying this?! Especially to the parents of kids & educate them properly on risk/benefit, and especially those college students!! I am not an MD… But I have been saying this for months and months and months but I tend to use early 2019 as my comparison… Why in February 2019 wasn’t everybody masking? I mean it was respiratory season… Why didn’t anybody think of it?! Why didn’t I have to wear my mask to the doctors office for a regular check up in January 2019? I mean the flu was running rampant amongst many other things… Were they complacent? Did they not care about me?! Stupidity! And of course all the other continued things that still happened in 2022… Why when one toddler was out sick didn’t all the other toddlers in the class have to stay home… Why?! I hope those in policy positions sooner or later begin to ask themselves these questions or have a good conscience and say… We simply can’t do anything like this anymore especially when fall hits and cases rise… As they will… Time to wake up.
I live with my parents, who are 70+ years old. They have gotten three shots. When I caught covid in January, I made sure to go into the kitchen and restroom at different times, set up an air purifier in the place I would be the most, and wore a mask when going through common areas. But I didn't get a hotel room for a week, and my parents were pretty calm about the whole thing. We can exercise caution without acting like crazy germaphobes.
One of my coworkers (a teacher) "makes" his students (all adults) wear masks even though the mandate is over. He wears an n95 outdoors and teaches behind plexiglass. If I were a germaphobe like him, I would've bought two air purifiers as well, but I've realized that many people who claim to be very concerned about covid don't actually put their money where their mouth is. So many people still wear cloth or surgical masks. If you're that concerned, go buy kf94s or kn95s.
Had a family get-together recently. Someone talked about a recent wedding where the groomsman wasn't "allowed" to attend because he wasn't vaccinated. This was the family requiring vaccinations, not the city or the venue. Nuts. What was sad is the family friend agreed with this decision. Unfortunately, so many people still think an individual not getting a vaccine puts others at risk. I mean ... were wedding attendees being required to mask as well? Bride and groom? If they weren't, then prohibiting unvaccinated people to attend is hypocritical and illogical.
The strange part is those who are so enthusiastic about the vaccine are so unlikely to trust it to protect them that they demand other air-sharers to take the injections.
Workplaces and other organizations (or people) require vaccinations because they're supposed to help the group, not just the individual. Yet many still require masks as well despite vaccination status, so it seems an acknowledgment the vaccines don't help much with preventing transmission. The evidence has shown that protection against infection (and presumably transmission as well) drops significantly after a few weeks of vaccination.
Protection against transmission came only from protection against infection. Once infected, vaccination status was irrelevant for transmissibility. And yet still people lost their jobs, families divided, air travel was out of the question... There will be no trust in the "authorities" the next time there's a novel outbreak.
I mean, wearing masks is also illogical unless they would have been 95's. And at this stage, with so many people having prior infection, most of these measures are illogical.
Ask someone what the end goal of covid policies are and I doubt they could give you a clear answer. Will covid go away completely? Seems like most "experts" aren't spouting that nonsense anymore.
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Paid to subscribe just so I could ask this question, so I'd love a response from anyone on this thread. I desperately want to get on board with Dr. Prasad's perspective here, but I remain fearful of long covid. I keep thinking back to the litany of studies that show damage the the brain, lungs, and other organs, as well as elevated risk for cardiac events. Why are folks so confident that this research is nothing to worry about? I understand that all viruses carry long-term risks, but the research seems to suggest to me that the risk is much higher with covid. Please tell me why I'm wrong so I can go back to living life!
We've all been affected by the intense fear of covid our PH people, the government, media all propagated. Live your life. Chances are very high you will not get long covid. If you do get it, you get it and will deal with it. But your worrying only robs you of the present.
"remain fearful of long covid" - might be a valid fear but seems more associated with being female and with a high anxiety level. The mind does have a great affect on the body. Meditation might be a way to reduce those fears and can be healing by itself. Things that improve the immune system reduce the probability of a serious infection. I have no idea why some get terribly ill while others skate through, but it seems many more skate than become seriously ill. I suspect the immune system is involved as it always is.
At 82 with many commodities I gargle with dilute Betadine and Q-tip that in my nose. I simply refuse to stop living. I worry much more about a serious fall given my now single situation. As my late Aunt once said after travelling 6 hours on a plane "I didn't come all this way to sit in a room".
My question for you is whether worrying about long covid reduces your chance of contracting it. Seriously. I agree with VP: we're all going to get covid, it's just a matter of when. Masking might delay the infection, but the virus isn't going anywhere (even if we could eradicate it in humans, it's in plenty of other animals and will jump back to humans). Avoiding contact with others is extremely detrimental to our wellbeing, and is hard on the immune system.
So I'd say it doesn't really matter how worried you are about long covid. You will catch covid. Chances are you'll be just fine. And if you do end up with long covid, no amount of worrying or mitigation--as far as we know--could have avoided it.
That said...if "worrying" means you're excising regularly, eating nutrient-dense foods, getting time in the sun, and setting yourself up for a good sleep, then by all means keep worrying! :)
"we're all going to get covid" - I might suggest that not all will become ill from a SARs-CoV-2 exposure. You might be susceptible in which case you are likely to become ill to some degree. We are not necessarily all susceptible per the Challenge trial and many reports from people who nursed the ill. We have no idea, so far, why some are immune and if that immunity can be extended. A puzzle for sure. But anxiety causes stress which is known to reduce immunity response. So advice to do your best to stay healthy is quite the prescription.
The real question is: What will do you do about it?
Let's say the hypothesis of the recent VA paper is correct and we get similar numbers validating "increasing risk of PASC with each infection." What are you going to do about it? Wear a mask? What kind? Full scuba suit? You think your mask is protecting you, but it isn't. You think the vaccine is protecting you, but it isn't. You think prior infection is protecting you, but it isn't.
How do I know? Because after 2 vax and Omicron, I spent 4 months without a mask living my life and enjoying things. I went jogging for the first time in 25 years. I felt amazing. 6-7 weeks ago, I had a COVID exposure. It came from within the house, so it wasn't even a "mask in public" problem. My daughter had it, and I didn't even have a sniffle. But ... 2 weeks later, my energy levels started to drain. I made an appointment to see my doctor, and my blood oxygen was low. She ran some blood work. "I think you have Long COVID." Today, I got the blood work back, and I have a few of the markers, but ... as you may know, it's tricky to definitely explain away.
At this point, my heart is swollen, my pulmonary blood pressure is high, and we're trying to figure out if I should can afford a VQ scan (because insurance doesn't cover the test for Long COVID). My lungs are just not getting enough O2 into my blood, although I have no signs of an active infection or any lung scarring.
I love Dr. Prasad. I think he is completely spot-on about the vaccines, the proof of "outcomes" is not chosen, and the bullshit on that front continues to pour out. Long COVID is **probably** a reaction to the spike protein as it shares many symptoms with vax reaction (e.g. I have myocarditis ... literally had a perfect cardio stress test in February, post OMICRON, and felt amazing until May).
However, PREVENTION is a failing strategy. It already failed. The vax doesn't stop the spread. You cannot build herd immunity if there is no individual immunity. Omicron makes a mockery of distance and masking. Yet the CDC isn't invested in Long COVID research because if they create a "treatment," then someone might not get their 18th Booster. So, Resia Pretorius is out on Twitter begging for $160,000 for a flow cytometry machine, but Pfizer and Moderna have raked in over $100,000,000,000 for a vaccine that is 97% effective at keeping you from dying of COVID pneumonia ... but only 15% effective against preventing you from developing PASC.
So, Chris ... I don't know what to tell you.
I think the next 2-3 months are going to be a wild ride. No matter how badly lockdowns, masks, and vaccines have failed us ... it is hard to imagine anyone of authority in the United States making the pivot to treatment and therapy research. In the mean time, I'm gonna just sit here and try not to die until some overseas team cracks the Long COVID code. The only thing I know for sure is that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is insane, but that's all the USA seems capable of ...
"after 2 vax and Omicron" says a lot. Some evidence suggests that many vaccinated are much more vulnerable to Omicron. Worse they may be subject to repeated infections. We do need serious research into those observations. We also need affirmation of the FLCCC protocols for long Covid and repeated infections.
The issue about treatment involves the multiple symptoms that seem integrated into a failing immune system that we hardly understand. The NIH seems disinterested in anything that doesn't create revenues and royalty checks, sad to consider.
Well, the odd thing is that first Omicron, or maybe BA1 (whatever was hanging out in January) made me "sick" in the traditional sense, but once I was over it, I was over it. Zero sequelae, and I had cleared myocarditis, as well. February, I had a cardio stress test and a 100% clean bill of health. So, Feb-May, zero issues.
This is honestly why I'm so frustrated. Yes, I get it: Some people got vax injured and have been in a wheelchair since. Some people got long-COVID on first infection and have been ruined for going on 2 years. I can't say I would "rather" that happened to me. I thought I was "immune." I thought I had passed through the tape at the end of the marathon. So to be kicked back on my ass like this ... stone cold sucks.
I have lots of questions about FLCCC. It seems very much like "kitchen sink medicine" to me: We're gonna throw a lot of stuff that might help and has low probability of harm at you. Okay, but also, every item on the list is controversial in some way. I could see maybe you have Ivermectin on the list as the most controversial, but there's Vitamin D, Vitamin C, and Quercetin. Some proteolytic enzymes with questionable effects (particularly serrapeptase). It just seems like a big basket of placebos hoping that one of them convinces you that it is magically "the thing" to make you better and accidentally work.
I can agree about the kitchen sink notion. There are cautions about IVM in conjunction with Quercetin. Have you reached out to them? Maybe they can walk though the events with some notion of what may be going on. There obviously are a lot of people with different systems being affected.
P.S. I am taking Ivermectin, but I also live in a place with a lot of mosquitoes. Pre-COVID I was looking into the use of Ivermectin as perhaps a secondary control on mosquito populations where malaria is a bigger problem. It's nice to know that all those rascals are dying after biting me, but ... it hasn't done much for my blood pressure or blood O2 levels (yet). We'll see, I guess. I'm content with playing human bug zapper, either way ...
I'll have to see if I can find a few things I've read to address this. But here's something I've seen in friends with lingering symptoms, and seems to line up with opinions I've read. Not all are backed up with studies (yet) because studies are funded by pharma and this doesn't involve drug solutions. A lot of the long covid symptoms mimic inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, more common in women. The "cytokine storm" they talked about early on was an extreme immune/inflammatory response.
My approach to this has been to eat a low inflammatory diet. I avoid heavy carbs, eat real food as much as possible, and drink a lot of water. Systemic inflamation wreaks havoc on all systems, so reducing it helps, too.
I saw one of his videos two weeks ago called "LONG COVID!!!! -2 papers this week," which I found convincing, but it only dealt with two studies. If you have any links to other places where VP has discussed the issue, please share!
I really want to be convinced. I'm beginning to suspect that I've been the victim of fear-mongering, but I need more evidence. The very top medical journals continue to publish studies that scare the crap out of me, but I'm open to believing that they are wrong.
Observe the number of positive cases that resulted in hospitalization and then the fraction of those that led to death. Realize that even 'cases' reflect only those who elected to get tested and most certainly many so-called positives were artificial. Still the cases reflected worried people. Many infected had no apparent symptoms beyond a mild cold. Observe that nearly all that died had multiple comorbidities and were past the average age of death. A huge number were from nursing homes where policies created a bad situation.
I suspect the portion of infected who went on to long covid is very small. There are vested interests that are inclined to influence us toward fear.
It's been over 2 years and today's virus along with vaccines make covid a different story. Your age and health make a difference in the outcome. Besides you may get hit by a car first, get cancer and die and then never have to worry about covid! Basically, you have to choose your comfort with risk and hopefully choose life. See Dr. K below and others. Covid is likely the least of your health worries at this stage.
Glad to see you've arrived to the "Get away from me you lunatics" point. I was at the stage where I was desperate to see people shed their masks - until now. Now I am happy they oblige me by announcing their cowardice and tyranny. I want to know who they are.
Tyrannical coward here. I've continued mask-wearing because of the alarming research on the frequency and severity of covid-induced organ damage.
I'm beginning to realize that much of this research is faulty, and am gradually letting my guard down. I appreciate the perspective of covid skeptics like VP and the commenters on this newsletter.
Still, I'm a bit mystified by the extent to which some people find my mask-wearing so loathsome. You may be correct that I'm overreacting, but I'm just trying to protect my health based on what I thought was a trustworthy scientific and medical establishment.
I agree, it is strange that others take such offence to your mask-wearing. I've always thought, if you want to wear one go right ahead!
However, if you're wearing a mask under the belief that you won't catch covid, then, like VP says, it's worth rethinking that approach. You'll catch it eventually. And catching it during the summer when health care resources are more accessible and your immune system is operating at peak is better than catching it in winter when hospitals are already full.
It's also worth considering showing your face as a courtesy to others like children (who depend on full facial expressions for their development) and the hard-of-hearing who rely on lip-reading. A lot of our empathy comes from seeing facial expressions. (Forgive me if you've considered this already, which you probably have...)
A final consideration: mask-wearing shows compliance with the dominant narrative around covid. So, so many aspects of that narrative have failed the test of time.
Honestly, I don't think the mask is going to save you. You are going to be exposed at some point when you are not wearing it or it doesn't fit 100%. I have a beard. I just quit wearing it.
My last COVID exposure came from my daughter, who was already in the house where we are all unmasked, anyway. I didn't have some much as a sniffle (see my other response). So, unless you are willing to live the rest of your life with your lungs behind a HEPA filter, a mask is 90% signaling and 10% "maybe it caught enough of that last viral load."
I don't begrudge anyone wearing a mask. (Unless they are 4 years old, in which case, I'm usually pretty blunt with the parents ...) I believe in live and let live.
Another thing you have to realize is that the people who have PASC serious enough to cause organ failure ... most of them were vaccinated and masked, too. As we get more data on people with 3, 4, and 5 infections from around the world, I believe we're going to see that the spike protein is to blame. And ... well, that's never going to be admitted to in the United States, full stop. The notion we paid $100 billion to Big Pharma just to hurt our kids is too politically inconvenient for too many powerful people.
That exact line of thinking is what has kept my kids - to this day - in masks for >2 years, and the continued idiocy of mask rules in Canada, Spain, Portugal, and most of Asia.
Your mask wearing wouldn't be loathsome if it was 2019. But its 2022 and so you will have to carry that I'm afraid. You have underestimated the level of absolute rage the kids masking has unleashed, and yes, that means people still wearing them voluntarily represent that; right or wrong.
This is so tricky. I know of families that all had Covid at the same time, and I know a family where the kids caught it (at strictly masked school, and they hadn’t been anywhere else), then months later the mom caught it, then a few weeks later the dad caught it. I don’t know that they took any precautions at home. I’ve read tweets to the effect of, “omg I caught Covid and I didn’t want my partner to catch it, so we wore n95s except when sleeping, and we slept in separate rooms, and we opened all the windows in the dead of winter, and we had 3 Corsi-Rosenthal boxes going at all times, and behold, my partner was spared! And I made sure I got a PCR test when I was done, so that my case would be recorded.” I haven’t yet been sick, and I feel guilty about not wearing masks (I despise them) so I avoid most indoor places, and wear masks sometimes out of guilt (I know this is irrational, but I’m trying to hedge my bets, here). I don’t believe masks are nearly all they’re cracked up to be, but my friends and colleagues mostly have the mask religion, so I feel…..a bit awkward…..for a Democrat…..and we live in the world of Red Church and Blue Church.
Voice of sanity.
"PS: unsubscribe from this substack, you lunatic." Hahahaha. Spot on. I'm still amazed by people who've had covid and still wear masks. What the hell? I blame the CDC and PH for continuing to deny or minimize the protection from previous infection. They clearly don't see the studies.
I thought about this the same thing today when at Costco… Of course most people unmasked… Some people still masking… I think to myself is every single person that I see masked undergoing chemotherapy for cancer or something similar where they are super weak… But yet still walking around at Costco? Or are they living with somebody and in direct contact with a super vulnerable person…? we could take the cloth mask and surgical mask people out because that’s just stupid if that was the case… But all the folks in N95 & Kn95? Could there really be that many super vulnerable people? or just super brainwashed people?
I can recall wearing a mask as I was getting chemo. But those were early days. In the later days no need for the mask nor a visit to a store, too debilitated for that. Still it was a worry. Whether the mask did anything, who knows.
For CoV, I wore the mask when I had to. I was quite aware it couldn't be effective and started a sanitation regime after every public outing. No idea if that works either. For all I know I might be immune anyway. Pity we haven't been able to know who might be immune but we know they exist despite Dr Prasad's assertions. He .is probably correct that if you are among the vulnerable you likely have been infected by now.
And you probably made wise decisions based on that risk. As you should.
I agree on the immunity thing. I mean, I don't think recovering from covid is perfect immunity by any stretch. A friend of mine has had it 3 times (or tested positive, at least), each a year apart. She had it rough the first time. The other two were caught by testing at work (in healthcare), or she would have thought it was allergies. So, really, even if we have antibody or t-cell tests, that doesn't mean we can't get a new variant, just like the colds we get all the time. Studies show most reinfections to be minor, as expected.
I am sure some of them are in that position, but definitely not all of them. I'm going with super brainwashed for many. I know a guy who still thinks zero covid is possible.
In my area there are still plenty of people walking or riding bikes with masks. It's close to 100 degrees here...
Crazy.
Love this! The GOAT voice of COVID!
Yes!! This is spot on!! My son tested positive last Sunday and his doctor told us to make sure to isolate him in his room and avoid exposure to him - he is a twin and shares his room with his twin - so we did not follow his doctor’s orders - we went on with life as usual, and guess what? No one else got symptoms and he had a cough for couple of days, felt blah for one day, and then was perfectly fine! It’s amazing to me that these doctors we trusted all of our lives are getting things so wrong these days… kind of makes it hard to know who we can trust and who we should not… thank you, Dr. Prasad, for always being so knowledgeable and willing to share your wisdom!
I had covid in January, I was double vaxed, so it felt like I had the flu for a day, but that was about it. I asked my doctor if I should get boosted, now that I had it. she said wait a month, then "definitely get a booster". It was then I realized it might be time to get a doctor that thinks independently and actually evaluates research.
Oh my goodness - yes, I completely agree! Our doctor also told me to make sure my son (who is also fully vaccinated) gets a booster - he told me to “wait two weeks and then get him boosted” and I wanted so badly to ask him, isn’t he getting boosted right now since he is positive for Covid? But I kept my mouth shut… were you able to find a good doctor? It seems all of the independently thinking doctors who are not captured by the CDC are working Concierge… and we unfortunately can’t afford that for our family of four…
I found a provider who combines functional medicine with more traditional western medicine, she's great, but not everything is covered by insurance. Thankfully, my son's pedi was in agreement that infection was sufficient immunity for my young, health boys, at least for now.
I have long told my patients to just go on as they would have gone on with a cold for the past decades. Many will listen. Some will not.
I had two patients back to back last Friday that tested positive. I told them both just to rest when they felt sick (as they always would have) and all would be well. One went elsewhere and got Paxlovid although I told him it was not worth the risk/expense/time. Three days later, both felt just fine.
One was thrilled he skipped the Paxlovid. The other thought it had saved him. When I pointed out the confirmation bias, I got the usual shrug. It will take a long time, but well written pieces like this help. Thanks Vinay.
My wife brought it home from a group trip to NYC. I didn't wear a mask, but did start a prophylactic regimen of Ivermectin, Quercetin, Zinc, and Melatonin. I had one bad day, but have recovered for the most part testing fairly positive after the fifth day.
Snap - except it was from my daughter and I didn’t take Ivermectin, Quercetin, zinc or melatonin.
Amen VP!! This may be your best most direct post yet! This needs to be shared by all that follow! Perhaps it will reach another MD who is seeing especially young healthy patients every day for yearly checkups…and might stop and say… Wait …yeah why WOULDN’T I tell my patient something similar to this?! Why haven’t I been saying this?! Especially to the parents of kids & educate them properly on risk/benefit, and especially those college students!! I am not an MD… But I have been saying this for months and months and months but I tend to use early 2019 as my comparison… Why in February 2019 wasn’t everybody masking? I mean it was respiratory season… Why didn’t anybody think of it?! Why didn’t I have to wear my mask to the doctors office for a regular check up in January 2019? I mean the flu was running rampant amongst many other things… Were they complacent? Did they not care about me?! Stupidity! And of course all the other continued things that still happened in 2022… Why when one toddler was out sick didn’t all the other toddlers in the class have to stay home… Why?! I hope those in policy positions sooner or later begin to ask themselves these questions or have a good conscience and say… We simply can’t do anything like this anymore especially when fall hits and cases rise… As they will… Time to wake up.
I live with my parents, who are 70+ years old. They have gotten three shots. When I caught covid in January, I made sure to go into the kitchen and restroom at different times, set up an air purifier in the place I would be the most, and wore a mask when going through common areas. But I didn't get a hotel room for a week, and my parents were pretty calm about the whole thing. We can exercise caution without acting like crazy germaphobes.
One of my coworkers (a teacher) "makes" his students (all adults) wear masks even though the mandate is over. He wears an n95 outdoors and teaches behind plexiglass. If I were a germaphobe like him, I would've bought two air purifiers as well, but I've realized that many people who claim to be very concerned about covid don't actually put their money where their mouth is. So many people still wear cloth or surgical masks. If you're that concerned, go buy kf94s or kn95s.
Had a family get-together recently. Someone talked about a recent wedding where the groomsman wasn't "allowed" to attend because he wasn't vaccinated. This was the family requiring vaccinations, not the city or the venue. Nuts. What was sad is the family friend agreed with this decision. Unfortunately, so many people still think an individual not getting a vaccine puts others at risk. I mean ... were wedding attendees being required to mask as well? Bride and groom? If they weren't, then prohibiting unvaccinated people to attend is hypocritical and illogical.
The strange part is those who are so enthusiastic about the vaccine are so unlikely to trust it to protect them that they demand other air-sharers to take the injections.
Here's a bit of irony:
Workplaces and other organizations (or people) require vaccinations because they're supposed to help the group, not just the individual. Yet many still require masks as well despite vaccination status, so it seems an acknowledgment the vaccines don't help much with preventing transmission. The evidence has shown that protection against infection (and presumably transmission as well) drops significantly after a few weeks of vaccination.
Protection against transmission came only from protection against infection. Once infected, vaccination status was irrelevant for transmissibility. And yet still people lost their jobs, families divided, air travel was out of the question... There will be no trust in the "authorities" the next time there's a novel outbreak.
I mean, wearing masks is also illogical unless they would have been 95's. And at this stage, with so many people having prior infection, most of these measures are illogical.
Lunatic is the perfect way to describe the people who just refuse to move on. What are they waiting for?
Ask someone what the end goal of covid policies are and I doubt they could give you a clear answer. Will covid go away completely? Seems like most "experts" aren't spouting that nonsense anymore.
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Paid to subscribe just so I could ask this question, so I'd love a response from anyone on this thread. I desperately want to get on board with Dr. Prasad's perspective here, but I remain fearful of long covid. I keep thinking back to the litany of studies that show damage the the brain, lungs, and other organs, as well as elevated risk for cardiac events. Why are folks so confident that this research is nothing to worry about? I understand that all viruses carry long-term risks, but the research seems to suggest to me that the risk is much higher with covid. Please tell me why I'm wrong so I can go back to living life!
We've all been affected by the intense fear of covid our PH people, the government, media all propagated. Live your life. Chances are very high you will not get long covid. If you do get it, you get it and will deal with it. But your worrying only robs you of the present.
"remain fearful of long covid" - might be a valid fear but seems more associated with being female and with a high anxiety level. The mind does have a great affect on the body. Meditation might be a way to reduce those fears and can be healing by itself. Things that improve the immune system reduce the probability of a serious infection. I have no idea why some get terribly ill while others skate through, but it seems many more skate than become seriously ill. I suspect the immune system is involved as it always is.
At 82 with many commodities I gargle with dilute Betadine and Q-tip that in my nose. I simply refuse to stop living. I worry much more about a serious fall given my now single situation. As my late Aunt once said after travelling 6 hours on a plane "I didn't come all this way to sit in a room".
My question for you is whether worrying about long covid reduces your chance of contracting it. Seriously. I agree with VP: we're all going to get covid, it's just a matter of when. Masking might delay the infection, but the virus isn't going anywhere (even if we could eradicate it in humans, it's in plenty of other animals and will jump back to humans). Avoiding contact with others is extremely detrimental to our wellbeing, and is hard on the immune system.
So I'd say it doesn't really matter how worried you are about long covid. You will catch covid. Chances are you'll be just fine. And if you do end up with long covid, no amount of worrying or mitigation--as far as we know--could have avoided it.
That said...if "worrying" means you're excising regularly, eating nutrient-dense foods, getting time in the sun, and setting yourself up for a good sleep, then by all means keep worrying! :)
I also feel a duty to share the fact that the Canadian military was caught escalating fear of covid (it was a dry run for their psychological operations). We can presume other countries did the same. So some degree of your fear is entirely fabricated by forces outside your control. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/psychological-warfare-influence-campaign-canadian-armed-forces-1.6079084
"we're all going to get covid" - I might suggest that not all will become ill from a SARs-CoV-2 exposure. You might be susceptible in which case you are likely to become ill to some degree. We are not necessarily all susceptible per the Challenge trial and many reports from people who nursed the ill. We have no idea, so far, why some are immune and if that immunity can be extended. A puzzle for sure. But anxiety causes stress which is known to reduce immunity response. So advice to do your best to stay healthy is quite the prescription.
The real question is: What will do you do about it?
Let's say the hypothesis of the recent VA paper is correct and we get similar numbers validating "increasing risk of PASC with each infection." What are you going to do about it? Wear a mask? What kind? Full scuba suit? You think your mask is protecting you, but it isn't. You think the vaccine is protecting you, but it isn't. You think prior infection is protecting you, but it isn't.
How do I know? Because after 2 vax and Omicron, I spent 4 months without a mask living my life and enjoying things. I went jogging for the first time in 25 years. I felt amazing. 6-7 weeks ago, I had a COVID exposure. It came from within the house, so it wasn't even a "mask in public" problem. My daughter had it, and I didn't even have a sniffle. But ... 2 weeks later, my energy levels started to drain. I made an appointment to see my doctor, and my blood oxygen was low. She ran some blood work. "I think you have Long COVID." Today, I got the blood work back, and I have a few of the markers, but ... as you may know, it's tricky to definitely explain away.
At this point, my heart is swollen, my pulmonary blood pressure is high, and we're trying to figure out if I should can afford a VQ scan (because insurance doesn't cover the test for Long COVID). My lungs are just not getting enough O2 into my blood, although I have no signs of an active infection or any lung scarring.
I love Dr. Prasad. I think he is completely spot-on about the vaccines, the proof of "outcomes" is not chosen, and the bullshit on that front continues to pour out. Long COVID is **probably** a reaction to the spike protein as it shares many symptoms with vax reaction (e.g. I have myocarditis ... literally had a perfect cardio stress test in February, post OMICRON, and felt amazing until May).
However, PREVENTION is a failing strategy. It already failed. The vax doesn't stop the spread. You cannot build herd immunity if there is no individual immunity. Omicron makes a mockery of distance and masking. Yet the CDC isn't invested in Long COVID research because if they create a "treatment," then someone might not get their 18th Booster. So, Resia Pretorius is out on Twitter begging for $160,000 for a flow cytometry machine, but Pfizer and Moderna have raked in over $100,000,000,000 for a vaccine that is 97% effective at keeping you from dying of COVID pneumonia ... but only 15% effective against preventing you from developing PASC.
So, Chris ... I don't know what to tell you.
I think the next 2-3 months are going to be a wild ride. No matter how badly lockdowns, masks, and vaccines have failed us ... it is hard to imagine anyone of authority in the United States making the pivot to treatment and therapy research. In the mean time, I'm gonna just sit here and try not to die until some overseas team cracks the Long COVID code. The only thing I know for sure is that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is insane, but that's all the USA seems capable of ...
"after 2 vax and Omicron" says a lot. Some evidence suggests that many vaccinated are much more vulnerable to Omicron. Worse they may be subject to repeated infections. We do need serious research into those observations. We also need affirmation of the FLCCC protocols for long Covid and repeated infections.
The issue about treatment involves the multiple symptoms that seem integrated into a failing immune system that we hardly understand. The NIH seems disinterested in anything that doesn't create revenues and royalty checks, sad to consider.
Well, the odd thing is that first Omicron, or maybe BA1 (whatever was hanging out in January) made me "sick" in the traditional sense, but once I was over it, I was over it. Zero sequelae, and I had cleared myocarditis, as well. February, I had a cardio stress test and a 100% clean bill of health. So, Feb-May, zero issues.
This is honestly why I'm so frustrated. Yes, I get it: Some people got vax injured and have been in a wheelchair since. Some people got long-COVID on first infection and have been ruined for going on 2 years. I can't say I would "rather" that happened to me. I thought I was "immune." I thought I had passed through the tape at the end of the marathon. So to be kicked back on my ass like this ... stone cold sucks.
I have lots of questions about FLCCC. It seems very much like "kitchen sink medicine" to me: We're gonna throw a lot of stuff that might help and has low probability of harm at you. Okay, but also, every item on the list is controversial in some way. I could see maybe you have Ivermectin on the list as the most controversial, but there's Vitamin D, Vitamin C, and Quercetin. Some proteolytic enzymes with questionable effects (particularly serrapeptase). It just seems like a big basket of placebos hoping that one of them convinces you that it is magically "the thing" to make you better and accidentally work.
I can agree about the kitchen sink notion. There are cautions about IVM in conjunction with Quercetin. Have you reached out to them? Maybe they can walk though the events with some notion of what may be going on. There obviously are a lot of people with different systems being affected.
P.S. I am taking Ivermectin, but I also live in a place with a lot of mosquitoes. Pre-COVID I was looking into the use of Ivermectin as perhaps a secondary control on mosquito populations where malaria is a bigger problem. It's nice to know that all those rascals are dying after biting me, but ... it hasn't done much for my blood pressure or blood O2 levels (yet). We'll see, I guess. I'm content with playing human bug zapper, either way ...
I'll have to see if I can find a few things I've read to address this. But here's something I've seen in friends with lingering symptoms, and seems to line up with opinions I've read. Not all are backed up with studies (yet) because studies are funded by pharma and this doesn't involve drug solutions. A lot of the long covid symptoms mimic inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, more common in women. The "cytokine storm" they talked about early on was an extreme immune/inflammatory response.
My approach to this has been to eat a low inflammatory diet. I avoid heavy carbs, eat real food as much as possible, and drink a lot of water. Systemic inflamation wreaks havoc on all systems, so reducing it helps, too.
The vast majority of those studies do not have proper controls and can literally be ignored as nothing but noise.
VP has given details as to why in various videos and.tweets.
I saw one of his videos two weeks ago called "LONG COVID!!!! -2 papers this week," which I found convincing, but it only dealt with two studies. If you have any links to other places where VP has discussed the issue, please share!
I really want to be convinced. I'm beginning to suspect that I've been the victim of fear-mongering, but I need more evidence. The very top medical journals continue to publish studies that scare the crap out of me, but I'm open to believing that they are wrong.
Observe the number of positive cases that resulted in hospitalization and then the fraction of those that led to death. Realize that even 'cases' reflect only those who elected to get tested and most certainly many so-called positives were artificial. Still the cases reflected worried people. Many infected had no apparent symptoms beyond a mild cold. Observe that nearly all that died had multiple comorbidities and were past the average age of death. A huge number were from nursing homes where policies created a bad situation.
I suspect the portion of infected who went on to long covid is very small. There are vested interests that are inclined to influence us toward fear.
It's been over 2 years and today's virus along with vaccines make covid a different story. Your age and health make a difference in the outcome. Besides you may get hit by a car first, get cancer and die and then never have to worry about covid! Basically, you have to choose your comfort with risk and hopefully choose life. See Dr. K below and others. Covid is likely the least of your health worries at this stage.
Glad to see you've arrived to the "Get away from me you lunatics" point. I was at the stage where I was desperate to see people shed their masks - until now. Now I am happy they oblige me by announcing their cowardice and tyranny. I want to know who they are.
Tyrannical coward here. I've continued mask-wearing because of the alarming research on the frequency and severity of covid-induced organ damage.
I'm beginning to realize that much of this research is faulty, and am gradually letting my guard down. I appreciate the perspective of covid skeptics like VP and the commenters on this newsletter.
Still, I'm a bit mystified by the extent to which some people find my mask-wearing so loathsome. You may be correct that I'm overreacting, but I'm just trying to protect my health based on what I thought was a trustworthy scientific and medical establishment.
I agree, it is strange that others take such offence to your mask-wearing. I've always thought, if you want to wear one go right ahead!
However, if you're wearing a mask under the belief that you won't catch covid, then, like VP says, it's worth rethinking that approach. You'll catch it eventually. And catching it during the summer when health care resources are more accessible and your immune system is operating at peak is better than catching it in winter when hospitals are already full.
It's also worth considering showing your face as a courtesy to others like children (who depend on full facial expressions for their development) and the hard-of-hearing who rely on lip-reading. A lot of our empathy comes from seeing facial expressions. (Forgive me if you've considered this already, which you probably have...)
A final consideration: mask-wearing shows compliance with the dominant narrative around covid. So, so many aspects of that narrative have failed the test of time.
Honestly, I don't think the mask is going to save you. You are going to be exposed at some point when you are not wearing it or it doesn't fit 100%. I have a beard. I just quit wearing it.
My last COVID exposure came from my daughter, who was already in the house where we are all unmasked, anyway. I didn't have some much as a sniffle (see my other response). So, unless you are willing to live the rest of your life with your lungs behind a HEPA filter, a mask is 90% signaling and 10% "maybe it caught enough of that last viral load."
I don't begrudge anyone wearing a mask. (Unless they are 4 years old, in which case, I'm usually pretty blunt with the parents ...) I believe in live and let live.
Another thing you have to realize is that the people who have PASC serious enough to cause organ failure ... most of them were vaccinated and masked, too. As we get more data on people with 3, 4, and 5 infections from around the world, I believe we're going to see that the spike protein is to blame. And ... well, that's never going to be admitted to in the United States, full stop. The notion we paid $100 billion to Big Pharma just to hurt our kids is too politically inconvenient for too many powerful people.
That exact line of thinking is what has kept my kids - to this day - in masks for >2 years, and the continued idiocy of mask rules in Canada, Spain, Portugal, and most of Asia.
Your mask wearing wouldn't be loathsome if it was 2019. But its 2022 and so you will have to carry that I'm afraid. You have underestimated the level of absolute rage the kids masking has unleashed, and yes, that means people still wearing them voluntarily represent that; right or wrong.
This is so tricky. I know of families that all had Covid at the same time, and I know a family where the kids caught it (at strictly masked school, and they hadn’t been anywhere else), then months later the mom caught it, then a few weeks later the dad caught it. I don’t know that they took any precautions at home. I’ve read tweets to the effect of, “omg I caught Covid and I didn’t want my partner to catch it, so we wore n95s except when sleeping, and we slept in separate rooms, and we opened all the windows in the dead of winter, and we had 3 Corsi-Rosenthal boxes going at all times, and behold, my partner was spared! And I made sure I got a PCR test when I was done, so that my case would be recorded.” I haven’t yet been sick, and I feel guilty about not wearing masks (I despise them) so I avoid most indoor places, and wear masks sometimes out of guilt (I know this is irrational, but I’m trying to hedge my bets, here). I don’t believe masks are nearly all they’re cracked up to be, but my friends and colleagues mostly have the mask religion, so I feel…..a bit awkward…..for a Democrat…..and we live in the world of Red Church and Blue Church.
Best post yet. Well done!
Amen! 👏👏👏