"we don't want people to think this is as bad as SARS"
No. No, they should've leaned the fuck into "this is SARS 2: Electric Boogaloo" and "this fucker is in the same genus as MERS, which kills a third of people who catch it".
Like, they knew that original SARS could cause chronic illnesses ranging from respiratory issues to—
Oh. Huh. So I was looking up the fact that SARS-CoV could cause osteoporosis, and most of the results are talking about SARS-CoV-2 causing some osteoporosis-like symptoms in some people.
Are you fucking kidding me. Like, I know I'm going off on a tangent here, but maybe we should be more worried about a virus that can fuck up your bones. I mean, sure, it does far worse things that no one seems to give a shit about, but fuck.
The latest variant that the UK media seem to give enough of a shit about to actually report is nicknamed the "kraken" variant ( 🙄 ) aka omicron XBB.1.5. The symptoms according to this Evening Standard article are listed as:
- Scratchy throat
- Lower back pain
- Runny nose/congestion
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Sneezing
- Night sweats
- Body aches
My partner has all of these except the respiratory ones; so i think their throat isn't too bad and they don't have any congestion, runny nose, or sneezing. At first they just felt a little bit under the weather with no major symptoms and I expected them to feel better in a couple days. But instead they've just got worse over time and is now at the "can't get out of bed, high fever" stage.
I know that other pathogens besides covid exist, and exposure to covid wrecks your immune system in general (we both had it once, back in spring 2022). So maybe this is "just" another pathogen and not covid. But I wish I could be more certain and I wish the shitty UK government and other world governments had been more competent in their messaging and less ... you know, criminal grifters who care about nothing except their own wealth.
When they next wake up I'm going to help them take a covid lateral flow test, but I'm wondering how effective a test can be if it involves swabbing the nose/throat and the person in question doesn't have any nose/throat symptoms. Does anyone know? 🤔
Edited: I forgot to add the article link
I mostly want to add to what has already been discussed here and to highlight some of the symptoms that studies are showing thus far. (As a side note, the name "Kraken" was actually coined by T. Gregory, a epidemologist/immunologist that's on Twitter. He's been deriving new names for the lineages since XBB is a bit unwieldy to say).
The WHO stance on all of this has been a bit sickening as SARS-CoV-2 is indeed related to the original SARS-CoV-1 being of the same family and all.(9) Its disingenuous of them to try to make it seem less bad, when it's impacting multiple bodily systems (10). WHO, ironically, at least admits Covid is not good for humanity and advocates for pandemic mitigations to some degree. This is in contrast to America's CDC, who has been gaslighting the public here for years, and it's 'let-it-rip' approach is an eugenics policy.(1)
XBB 1.5 originated in New York City, NY, USA. (2,3) [Thanks USA.] It's now been exported to Europe and who knows else because America refuses to do pandemic mitigations.
XBB 1.5 is the most infectious and most immune evasive variant to appear yet. (2) It's a recombinant variant - meaning two Omicron lineages combined with XBB to create this monstrous variant.(3) This evasion is so effective that even those with the newer bivalent booster offers only partial protection (4). No monoclonal antibody treatments work against it. (5) Paxlvoid does work to some degree; however, Molnupiravir has often lead to rapid accrual of mutations within the virus in immunocompromised patients, so is not recommended.(6) Covid is already known to "hide" in various parts of our body (7), and this variant is no different.
Symptoms for XBB 1.5 (Kraken) may include (8,9):
- Muscle Aches
- Body Aches
- Scratchy/sore Throat
- Fatigue
- Back Pain (Lower most common)
- Runny/stuffy Nose
- Fever
- Headache
- Sore Eyes
- Persistent Cough
- Loss of Appetite
- Chills or Night Sweats
The typical loss of smell and taste was less likely to happen with any lineage that derives from Omicron BA.2, which XBB 1.5 does (2,3,4,8,9). This doesn't mean it can't happen, only that it is more likely a change of taste and smell rather than full loss of it.(9)
Will XBB 1.5 result in LongCovid? Yes, it is possible. The likelihood of anyone contracting Long Covid increases exponentially the more times one is infected with any SARS-CoV-2 variant.(10)
Long Covid generally develops 4 to 6 months after initial infection. It is unknown how long Long Covid lasts as many suffers (myself included) have had symptoms for years. It's been labeled a chronic disease by several experts (10). Symptoms of Long Covid tend to hit several bodily systems. (10,11)
Important Note when reading this list: A sufferer of LongCovid rarely has all of these symptoms. They do tend to develop in clusters. I have a few in each category. If you find yourself having ANY of these symptoms and its been six months or more since you've had Covid, then please be seen by a doctor who acknowledges and treats LongCovid as a serious disease. Some of these symptoms (especially Cardiovascular ones) can be fatal if not treated.
General Symptoms (impacting multiple systems):
- Fatigue
- Post Exertional Malaise (often nicknamed the crash and happens after physical or mental exercising)
- Elevated temperatures
- Chills/Flushing
- Weakness
- Heat Intolerance
- Low Temperature
- Night Sweats
- May develop Diabetes I (especially in children)
- May develop Osteoporosis
- Suicidal Ideation
Neurological symptoms:
- Brain Fog (Cognitive Dysfunction similar to a traumatic brain injury)
- Headaches
- Visual disturbances (Blurred vision, double vision)
- Irritability
- Sensitivity to Light
- Sensitivity to Noise
- Numbness or Tingling within various parts of body
- Changes in Taste or Smell
- Increases likelihood of Parkinson's or Alzheimer's
Cardiovascular symptoms:
- Palpitations
- Tachycardia
- Pain/burning in chest
- Visibly inflamed/bulging veins
- Brachycardia
- Fainting
Musculoskeletal Symptoms:
- Muscle Pain or Soreness
- Back Pain
- Numbness in Muscles or Pins and Needles
- Tightness of Chest
- Joint Pain
- Stiff Neck
- Muscle Spasms
- Bone Ache or Burning
Pulmonary Symptoms:
- Asthma (may develop after Covid infection)
- Shortness of Breath
- Sleep Apnea (may develop after Covid infection)
- Dry Cough
- Difficulty Breathing (readings show normal O2 Level)
- Cough with mucus
- Sneezing
- Rattling of breath
Gastrointestinal Symptoms:
- Diarrhea
- Loss of Appetite
- Nausea
- Abdominal Pain
- Gastroesophageal reflux
- Feeling full quickly when eating
- Constipation
- Hyperactive bowel sensations
- Vomiting
Autoimmune Symptoms:
- Heightened reaction to old allergies
- New Allergies
- New anaphylaxis reaction
- Inflammation symptoms (overlaps with Dermatologic, Pulmonary, and Gastrointestinal symptoms)
Dermatologic symptoms:
- Itchy Skin
- Skin Rashes
- Petechiae
- Covid Toe (Hard to touch and a reddish/purplish color)
- Peeling Skin
I share this list not to scare the souls out of people - though this list ought to scare everyone into doing basic pandemic mitigations like masking and air filtration/ventilation - but mostly to advise people to really look into their health. If you have any of the above symptoms but don't have proof of a positive Covid Test, then it is still likely you may have LongCovid (or at the very least it's partner in crime: ME/CFS), and should be tested by a doctor who is actually knowledgeable about both diseases. If you have proof of a positive test and have these symptoms, it is easier to get care.
Important note about LongCovid Treatments: if a doctor suggests graded exercise for LongCovid, fire that doctor immediately. Graded exercise therapy will result in a crash of even worse symptoms; it is particularly bad for LongCovid and ME/CFS patients, and newer research (10,11) recommend against it. Can some exercise help? Possibly but it is highly recommended to rest and carefully pace yourself to avoid overly stressing your body with too much physical and mental activities. Too much exercise will worsen symptoms significantly if not permanently depending on the person and severity of LongCovid and ME/CFS.
How can we avoid Covid?
The tools to avoid Covid still exist and we need to use them. We do not need to succumb to WHO and America's CDC gaslighting that the only way out is more infection to try to achieve "immunity," which studies (10) show does not exist. All immunity gained from infection is lost within a few months, and newer variants often evade that immunity (2,3,4).
- Wear a N95 Mask or better everywhere. I personally use a FloMask with a pro-filter. Others swear by 3M elastrometrics or Envomask. For other reusuable masks, see Cambridge, Vogmask, AUS Air, Softseal, Happy Mask (for kids), Airgami (for kids), Enro Mask. (12)
- Invest and/or make air filtration (Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes can be made with some easy to buy materials or purchase HEPA filters) and push for all places to install these devices. (12)
- Keep tabs on the transmission data for your region. This will help you better prepare for when you must go out in public or attend events. (10 - see Covid Tracking tag).
- Visit the PeoplesCDC.org for its See You Safer Kit. It has even more tips and tricks!
- Test for Covid with RAT and/or PCR before and after events. This contact tracing is crucial to keep our communities safe.
I hope that helps folks! Feel free to ask me any questions. I'm going to try to check Cohost a bit more often.
FootNotes/Citations:
(1) https://upnight.com/2023/01/08/first-lets-kill-all-of-the-philosophers-covid-and-the-use-and-abuse-of-science/ and https://nancylwayne.wordpress.com/2023/01/09/the-broken-u-s-healthcare-system-long-covid-and-its-disproportionate-impact-on-women/ and https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/07/04/Get-Ready-Forever-Plague/?s=09 and https://truthout.org/articles/abled-bodied-leftists-cannot-abandon-disabled-solidarity-to-move-on-from-covid/ and https://counterdisinformationproject.substack.com/p/the-pandata-file?s=09
(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9747694/
(3) https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/01/03/health/covid-variant-xbb-explainer/index.html
(4) https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2214293
(5) https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(22)01531-8.pdf
(6) https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.21.22283811v1
(7) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/28/are-pockets-of-covid-in-the-gut-causing-long-term-symptoms?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other and https://www.cell.com/med/fulltext/S2666-6340(22)00167-2
(8) https://www.yahoo.com/news/symptoms-covid-variant-xbb-doctors-080002661.html and https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html
(9) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34244-2
(10) https://bit.ly/AidansCovidDatabase (under tag LongCovid) and https://docs.google.com/document/d/15LHdOt-f6e7O5LWWAeNnh-zZ2YRW_EzrbSQKJBPnkvY/edit?usp=sharing
(11) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(21)00299-6/fulltext and https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2788283
(12) https://peoplescdc.org and https://theconversation.com/ventilation-reduces-the-risk-of-covid-so-why-are-we-still-ignoring-it-194820 and https://cleanaircrew.org/
