Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of January 24

The blood markers that could help to diagnose long COVID

Chansavath Phetsouphanh at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and his colleagues analysed blood samples from people with long COVID and found that a SARS-CoV-2 infection elicits an immune response distinct from that of other types of coronavirus, such as those that cause the common cold.

This response persists in people experiencing long COVID. The team’s analysis pointed to a collection of immune-system molecules that remained abnormally high in individuals with long COVID eight months after infection. These molecules, such as type 1 and type 3 interferons, are usually made at the time of a viral infection. They activate immune cells called T cells and trigger inflammation.

Here is the paper.

Covid isn't a human being, it doesn't care what you think about it.

One of the more strange, uniquely American phenomena over the past two years is when media personalities and politicians talk about Covid like it’s a sentient, rational enemy that must be defied, stood up to, and spited. It’s not just a quirky cultural framework that’s interesting to note in its own right, but part of a larger epistemological regime in American political discourse: So much of how we speak about the world is based on tough-guy bullshit, solipsism, martial posturing, hyper-individualism, and triggering the libs.

This silly anthropomorphizing of Covid manifests in other ways, similarly marked by the American obsession with personal liberty, spite, and martial posturing. “We can’t live in fear of the virus” has been a popular refrain from mugging politicians and pundits, particularly among Republicans in the summer of 2020. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis repeatedly says “hysteria and fear won't drive Florida,” and countless op-eds repeat a similar theme: “We must not be scared.” But what does this even mean? Would a politician ever say, as storm alarms were blaring, “We can’t live in fear of tornadoes,” or as the earth shook, “We can’t live in fear of earthquakes”? Covid doesn’t care if we live in fear, nor does this concept have any meaning when it comes to what is, in effect, a natural phenomenon.

There’s a new version of omicron but so far it doesn’t appear to be more dangerous

Known as BA. 2, the new version of the virus is a descendant of the omicron variant responsible for huge surges of covid-19 in the United States and elsewhere around the globe. Virologists are referring to the original omicron variant as BA. 1.

[...]

Anders Fomsgaard a virologist at the State Serum Institute in Denmark, said in an email Monday that BA. 2 has become the dominant form of the virus in his nation of nearly 6 million people, where it now accounts for about 65 percent of new cases as BA. 1 is on the decline.

At the same time, Fomsgaard said, “we are not so concerned, since we so far do not see major differences in age distribution, vaccination status, breakthrough infections and risk of hospitalization. Also, despite the high infection rate of BA. 2, the numbers of hospitalizations [in] ICUs are decreasing.”

Here's an excellent podcast with encouraging and positive news in the wake of Omicron and lots more data analysis. Really helped reduce my heightened anxiety lately,

https://peterattiamd.com/covid-part2/

Random thought I had: Are viruses an important part of an ecosystem? Is there such a thing as a "good" virus? What would happen if some technology was invented, picture aerosolized self-replicating nanobots or something, that actively destroyed every virus it encountered. If we could eradicate all viruses from the earth, would there be a downside?