# How dangerous is COVID? Bad flu or lifetime consequences?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234>\
**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:** 1\
**Showing post:** 17

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**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-covid-bad-flu-or-lifetime-consequences/1007234/17 "2024-09-14T02:37:49Z")

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I’d just like to point to this thread:

> [@Long Covid - what's the prevalence and prognosis?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-covid-whats-the-prevalence-and-prognosis/937157/):
>
> I broke out a discussion on long covid from the breaking news thread. I’m interested in seeing more info on this. Continuing the discussion from [Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2021 Breaking News](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/729): I also just posted in another thread that a coronavirus vaccine may give some people relief from long covid.

I found it useful at the time, and – glancing back at it now – still do.

I’d like to call particular attention to a post that I made:

> [@Long Covid - what's the prevalence and prognosis?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-covid-whats-the-prevalence-and-prognosis/937157/69):
>
> On another COVID thread, somewhere, I posted links to a couple of articles about long-COVID. The import was that significant inflammation (Cytokine Storm) was triggered by the virus, and that it doesn’t always resolve properly. If the inflammation doesn’t resolve ‘normally,’ it can leave scar tissue (fibrosis) in place of healthy myocardium. Think about blowing up a balloon. Now, think about sticking a balloon inside of a beer bottle, and then trying to inflate it. For a cohort of these…

This is a known consequence of COVID. I haven’t looked to see if similar studies have been conducted more recently, or if any of these patients have been followed over the subsequent years.

But … cardiac consequences of COVID = no bueno. IANAD, but I’m pretty comfortable that I’m not out over my skis, here 😉

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