This is the end

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https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1501773203261165570

A bit of a weight was lifted when I saw this, I must admit. Obviously there's now a lot more weight because of what's happening elsewhere but at least Covid seems to be on the way out.

It seems that, just like on Emmerdale Farm, we're only allowed one major global catastrophe at a time.

[thenoise]

In another month it'll be less lethal than being too poor to heat your flat. All hail King Boris!

[Pranet]

Worth saying that the full John Burn Murdoch twitter thread that is taken from is a bit less optimistic. But still good and that.

[olliebean]

It's been a while since I've had any serious worry about dying from Covid. Possible long-term adverse health implications are much more of a concern for me now, and still there seems to be a dearth of research and reliable information about "long Covid" and other long-term issues. (And I note they are not mentioned at all either in the short twitter thread linked here, nor the longer, less optimistic thread Pranet mentions above.)

The last I heard, based on ONS surveys, the risk of long Covid with Omicron - even following mild or asymptomatic cases - is still way higher than I'm comfortable with (although obviously it's too early to get any especially long-term data on this). And there's the brain shrinkage that has recently been reported, even in mild cases.

[olliebean]

Also worth pointing out that Covid is much more infectious than influenza, meaning it's much more easy to catch it, meaning that despite the lower infection fatality rate, you still have a considerably higher chance of catching and dying from Covid than you do of catching and dying from flu.

[Menu]

Well I'm glad I started this thread.

[Big Mclargehuge]

It should also be worth mentioning that despite it getting milder for *most* people, hospitalisations are still high and rising and deaths are following suit too since restrictions were called off.