<
https://theconversation.com/covid-barely-gets-a-mention-these-days-heres-why-thats-a-dangerous-situation-220867>
"The United States experienced its second largest COVID wave of the pandemic in
January 2024. For the year to December 2023, in England COVID rates peaked at
around one in 24 people. During the same month, Singapore also experienced
record COVID cases and a spike in hospitalisations.
COVID, then, is still a major public health problem, accounting for 10,000
deaths in 50 countries and a 42% increase in hospitalisations during December
2023 alone.
COVID may not be a global health emergency at the moment, but it is still
killing and harming far too many people worldwide.
Yet, judging by the lack of media coverage and social media attention, at least
compared to earlier in the pandemic, you might be forgiven for thinking that
COVID is no longer a big deal.
But acting as though COVID doesn’t exist or isn’t a problem is a dangerous
situation.
COVID complacency, by governments, the media and the public, is a threat to the
overall health of the population, to health services and particularly to those
most vulnerable, including older adults and those with pre-existing health
conditions.
Contrary to the popular misbelief, COVID is not getting milder. We have known
this for a while, but new research is starting to suggest that Omicron variants
might be evolving into more severe forms.
Another common misapprehension is that once we have had COVID, which most of us
have by now, our immune system is all the better for it.
While infection does lead the body to produce antibodies, getting our
antibodies from vaccines and boosters is a safer option, particularly in light
of growing evidence that repeat COVID infections increase the risk of long
COVID symptoms, hospitalisation and death.
Also, high COVID rates add pressure to already strained health systems. COVID,
along with flu and other respiratory viruses are playing their part in the
healthcare crisis being experienced in the UK and a number of EU countries, for
example – and long COVID is responsible for substantial financial burden on
health services.
It’s perhaps understandable why many people are less interested in COVID these
days. It’s been a long four years.
In my research with colleagues on public attitudes to COVID, we found as early
as winter 2020 that people were getting fatigued by COVID news and information.
But raising awareness of the ongoing risks posed by COVID remains as important
as ever."
Via Violet Blue’s
Pandemic Roundup: January 18, 2024
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-96725565
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
