# How dangerous is COVID? Bad flu or lifetime consequences? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Created:** [September 13, 2024, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234 "2024-09-13T22:06:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/21 "2024-09-14T03:37:19Z")
But this risk isn’t replacing an old risk, so why add to that pile if you don’t have to? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/22 "2024-09-14T04:10:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > 90+% of ~~America~~ the world is behaving as if COVID is the common cold. Taking no precautions whatsoever. Living just as they did before 2019. That’s true, but it’s not the common cold. It’s much riskier than the common cold. And sick days have greatly increased since the pandemic, because longish covid is really common. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I’m not sure how to respond to that. I want to travel and take her to dinner and do things. Is asking her to dinner or travel an unreasonable risk? Reasonable is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe compromise. Take her to well ventilated restaurants when sewage numbers (the best measure of covid frequency these days, since everyone poops) are low. Travel, but wear n95 masks in the airport and go to places with fun outdoors stuff. Get regular vaccinations. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/23 "2024-09-14T04:42:45Z")
What are sewage numbers? Is this something I can ask a restaurant about? (never heard of it) FTR: We ALWAYS eat outside (not counting my place) but that is a problem roughly half the year in Chicago. As for travel, she will only get on a plane if it is really important (e.g. attending a wedding or funeral). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/24 "2024-09-14T04:50:01Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > What are sewage numbers? Is this something I can ask a restaurant about? (never heard of it) It was discovered that one can track the prevalence of COVID in a municipality by looking at the levels of the virus in the sewer/wastewater system. Especially now that much testing is being done at home (if it’s being done at all), and many milder cases aren’t getting reported to health authorities, sewage numbers may be more accurate than the other numbers. > **[COVID Data Tracker](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#wastewater-surveillance)** > > CDC’s home for COVID-19 data. Visualizations, graphs, and data in one easy-to-use website. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/25 "2024-09-14T05:15:50Z")
Yeah, don’t ask a restaurant! But your can look up the sewage levels for must areas of the US. They don’t give you a precise answer. The sewage numbers will often be lower if there’s been a lot of rain (just due to dilution) but they give you a good sense of the tends and the approximate frequency of covid in an area. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/26 "2024-09-14T05:21:50Z")
Just an ancedote. My sister in law got poked late in the first round of availability because she wanted to fly (with a bandana as a mask), and a first booster. Then stopped. Half a year ago, she caught covid, and now has vertigo so severe she has trouble sitting up, much less can no longer leave the house to watch grandkid play baseball in a nearby park. I double poked with both this season’s covid and a flu shot last Sunday. Sore arm and exhausted by mid afternoon the next day and took a long nap. Get poked puh-lese. Don’t be one of those dicks that feels a lot of symptons, but simply acts “responsibly” for a few days until they feel better so as not to impact a vacation or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/27 "2024-09-14T05:53:01Z")
FWIW I have been vaccinated five times for COVID (Moderna) and the sixth has just come out (I’ll get it this weekend). My GF is the same although she is Pfizer. And I did that despite be cautioned against vaccines (I once had Guillain-Barre Syndrome which some think is caused by vaccines). My doctor said I was better off getting the vaccines, so I did. No GBS symptoms (thankfully). ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/28 "2024-09-14T07:07:28Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > 90+% of ~~America~~ the world is behaving as if COVID is the common cold. I’m in Switzerland. As I am under 65, and have no other risk factors, it is extremely difficult to get a COVID booster, beyond the first three. People get sick. Doctors treat the symptoms and often don’t even bother testing if the person has the flu, a cold or COVID. The government is tracking. And the numbers are going up. > **[Federal Office of Public Health Infectious Diseases Dashboard (IDD)](https://www.idd.bag.admin.ch/)** > > Every Wednesday, the IDD provides information on cases of infection and illness in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein caused by various pathogens. I know people who have reported getting infected with COVID recently. They are all in the U.S. I don’t know anybody here who’s been infected with COVID. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/29 "2024-09-14T07:13:26Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > I know people who have reported getting infected with COVID recently. They are all in the U.S. I don’t know anybody here who’s been infected with COVID. FWIW, I used a home test both times I tested positive for COVID. Without the test I would have thought I had a minor bout of flu. Are the tests accurate? Are they really registering COVID and not just being sick with the flu-of-the-day? I really do now know. I can say my COVID, both times, presented as a mild case of the flu. I’ve definitely had worse. This made me sick for about four days…two days of I want to stay in bed and be miserable and a day before and after of ramping up and down out of it. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/30 "2024-09-14T07:24:58Z")
My wife and I had our first cases (back to back) in July. I’d say within the range of the upper side of nasty head cold for symptoms, although the fever was higher, and it lasted about twice as long (1-2 days of feeling under the weather, 2-4 days of feeling _sick_, 1-2 days of recovering). But a LOT of lingering issues, none _critical_ but noticeable for me. I’ve always been prone to post-viral bronchitis, and indeed had a lingering cough for weeks, but for the first time ever, I also had lingering issues where it felt like I wasn’t able to get a deep, oxygenating breath. That scared the hell out of me. Oh sure, past colds I felt I couldn’t breathe deeply because I’d start coughing, but this time even if I wasn’t coughing it felt like I was a touch short of air. Yes, I’ve been to the doctor, no my blood oxygen is a touch lower than ideal, but not in a dangerous range even at our altitude, but it’s really aggravated my apnea issues so off to the doctor on Wednesday to follow up on the sleep study. So far I’m adapting or finally getting better (3 months out) but I’m worried I may have actually lost a small fraction of my lung capacity, which is a concern when you live at over 6k feet above sea level. Would this been as bad, or nearly as bad if it had been traditional influenza? Possibly, I did just pass 50, but I’m certainly not going to take Covid as “just another cold”. I’ve got a dual shot scheduled for 9/27 for seasonal flu and Covid booster, which is most of what I can do. I don’t mask much anymore, because I can’t at the office and do my job, and they’ve long since had us all back in and eliminated the additional spacing cubes, so heavy exposure there. I am going back to being extra careful and masked at the grocery store though, even if it puts me in a tiny minority of those who do so. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/31 "2024-09-14T11:33:17Z")
I masked at the office, until i retired. Lots people in a tight space. I grabbed a small conference room or enclosed office for lunch. I was a computer jockey. Everything i did could be done in a mask. I still mask when i go out dancing. The good masks are pretty breathable. The 3M n95 vflex is so breathable i can sing wearing it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/32 "2024-09-14T12:16:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But this risk isn’t replacing an old risk, so why add to that pile if you don’t have to? Because fearfully hiding at home alone for the rest of your life isn’t healthy either? Nor is it much fun. We all like to laugh at those gun nuts afraid to go to the grocery store unarmed because a fire fight _might_ break out at any time in Frozen Foods. That’s a real actual risk that they’re out-sizedly afraid of. Yes, it _might_ happen. Odds are it won’t. IMO @whackamole’s GF (as an example, there are thousands of people doing the same nationwide) is making the same sort of error of judgement. Focusing on the severity of outcome but not the likelihood of occurrence. She might be killed crossing the street. I bet she crosses streets anyway. Why is something whose mitigation is so harmful to mental health and every notion of normalcy so attractive as the one life risk to mitigate above all others? Because it’s a) new and b) invisible. There’s a real and well-studied fault in human _intuitive_ thinking about novel risks. Which is why a proper risk analysis completely ignores defective intuition in favor of statistics. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/33 "2024-09-14T12:34:36Z")
> How dangerous is COVID? Bad flu or lifetime consequences? Yes. My first case was pretty bade (an early one, misdiagnosed). I should have been hospitalized. Since then, my asthma is much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/34 "2024-09-14T13:07:05Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Are the tests accurate? Are they really registering COVID and not just being sick with the flu-of-the-day? I really do now know. Did you mean “really do _not_ know”? Covid tests look for proteins or antigens specific to the Covid virus. They won’t report positive for non-Covid infections. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/35 "2024-09-14T13:09:30Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Did you mean “really do _not_ know”? Yup. Doh! 🤦‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/36 "2024-09-14T14:07:55Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Focusing on the severity of outcome but not the likelihood of occurrence. The likelihood of lingering problems is quite high, though. Everyone i know who died was either quite old/ill or caught it before vaccination came out. But I know dozens of people who were vaxxed and had no special risks who had problems after the initial infection cleared, ranging from low energy to brain fog to losing sense of smell to lingering coughing to getting REALLY sick every time they catch the common cold to newly diagnosed diabetes out of the blue. Most of those outcomes aren’t incredibly severe. But they are common, and unpleasant. My husband hasn’t recovered his energy, and my sense of smell is diminished. We are both functional. But we were better off before we caught covid. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/37 "2024-09-14T14:18:58Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > The likelihood of lingering problems is quite high, though. I guess it depends on your definition of “quite high.” > When researchers began studying Long COVID, after it became clear in 2020 that some people don’t [recover from COVID-19 right away](https://time.com/5880191/long-haul-covid-19/), some [estimated](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2776560) that [roughly a third](https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1626) of people who caught the virus experienced long-term symptoms. > > But that was years ago, at a time before vaccines and [endless iterations of Omicron](https://time.com/6197597/who-names-covid-19-variants-pi/), when most people had been infected once, if ever. How has the risk of contracting Long COVID changed over the years, as the virus has evolved and [almost everyone in the U.S. has gotten vaccinated, infected, or both](https://time.com/6284236/covid-19-immunity-antibodies/) (sometimes many times over)? > > \< snip \> > > One study, published July 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine, tracked a steady decline in the incidence of Long COVID from 2020 to 2022. Among people in the study who got COVID-19 during the Delta era, 5.3% of those who were vaccinated and 9.5% of those who were unvaccinated had Long COVID symptoms a year later. Among people who got sick during the Omicron era, those numbers dropped to 3.5% and 7.8%. - [SOURCE](https://time.com/6999274/long-covid-risk-2024/) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/38 "2024-09-14T14:28:17Z")
That’s a good study. And it’s basically good news. But its definition of “lingering effects” is limited to those that came to the attention of medical records. So it says that today, 3-8% of people have long covid serious enough to be recorded by their doctor. Neither my husband nor i would qualify for long covid under that definition. And… as i said, we’re certainly both functional. But he can’t stand at his standing desk all day any more, and i don’t trust my sense of smell as much as i used to. We’re both worse off for having been infected. I think long-term negative effects remain very common, although thankfully they seem to be less common and less serious than at the start of the pandemic. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/39 "2024-09-14T14:38:09Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > So it says that today, 3-8% of people have long covid serious enough to be recorded by their doctor. Raises hand. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/40 "2024-09-14T14:51:13Z")
Right, 3%-8% is hardly rare. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234.md?page=3)