Monday, April 13, 2020

LA Times Article Discusses Scientific Uncertainties in Covid-19 Risks



Is the Covid-19 policy-response (shelter in place damaging global economy) worse than the Disease Risk?

Answers to this troubling question don't just hinge on immediate fatalities, but also long term effects and the possibility of dormancy.

A news article by the LA Times discusses UNCERTAINTIES about lasting damage to organs beyond the lungs and the potential risk of dormancy: 

Melissa Healy (April 10, 2020). Coronavirus infection may cause lasting damage through body, doctors fear. The Los Angeles Times, https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-10/coronavirus-infection-can-do-lasting-damage-to-the-heart-liver

“COVID-19 is not just a respiratory disorder,” said Dr. Harlan Krumholtz, a cardiologist at Yale University. “It can affect the heart, the liver, the kidneys, the brain, the endocrine system and the blood system.”….

“I think there will be long-term sequelae,” said Yale cardiologist Dr. Joseph Brennan, using the medical term for a disease’s downstream effects…..

Another question that could take years to answer is whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 may lie dormant in the body for years and spring back later in different form.

As of now, no clear answers are available to plebs like you and me to these questions.

In the absence of clear accounts of dangers, the public is going to demand an end to shelter in place given the perception among many that disease impacts have been geographically localized and greatest in highly susceptible elderly populations.

I don't have answers here - just describing risk uncertainties and public emotional economies....
 

1 comment:

  1. SARS (1) does not show dormancy. So the expectation should be that the very close brother virus, our SARS-2 should be the same and not waste time or energy on "the wrong thing". If it does, it does. Study SARS-1 for the best information on SARS-2

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