Multiple COVID subvariants, collectively nicknamed #FLiRT,
are powerfully present in the U.S.,
and reports from California indicate that some patients are complaining of #throat #pain so strong it feels like they’re
“swallowing razors or broken glass,”
according to the Los Angeles Times.
Topol, meanwhile, says the Sato Lab in Japan has characterized one of the newest COVID strains,
KP.3.1.1, in a preprint as having
“the most immune evasion and infectivity of any of the variants”
derived from previous powerful iterations of the JN.1 strain, which was prominent last winter.
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that severe outcomes and deaths from COVID have decreased substantially overall from the pandemic’s early days,
wastewater data shows viral activity is “high’ nationally
and COVID-19 infections are growing or likely growing in 35 states.
More COVID infections mean more cases of long COVID.
And #long #COVID is already exacting an enormous toll on both the people and economies of the world.
Those are words you aren’t hearing from many government bodies.
But, the researchers say, the evidence tells the story.
“Despite the dire impact of long COVID on individuals and society,
I fear that many are still unaware of the danger,” says Akiko Iwasaki, professor of immunology at Yale School of Medicine and co-lead investigator of the university’s COVID-19 Recovery Study.
“There is an urgent need to provide proper diagnosis and treatment for people living with long COVID.”
The authors lay out a number of preventive policy #recommendations, including
increased use of masking,
improved ventilation systems
and a vaccination program that pairs COVID shots with season flu shots to extend their reach to improve uptake.
But there’s a genuine question as to whether enough folks are paying close attention for any of this to matter.
As the authors point out,
a survey found that as of last August,
one-third of American adults still hadn’t even heard of long COVID.
In reality, long COVID was identified and defined in the first full year of the pandemic, 2020,
and it has been increasing its case count ever since.
This form of COVID is particularly perilous because, for many people, its symptoms may last years
(or a lifetime)
and their effects may trigger all sorts of associated problems and costs.
Long COVID “affects nearly every organ system,” the review notes,
including the cardiovascular, immune, gastrointestinal and reproductive systems.
While more than 200 symptoms have been identified, common symptoms include
memory problems,
difficulty concentrating,
fatigue,
heart palpitations,
chronic cough,
shortness or breath
and recurring headaches.
$1 trillion problem with no cure. 
400 million people 
$1 trillion annually
