Why getting Covid now may be a bad idea
"We're all going to get it eventually anyway...", you say
If you're thinking about catching Omicron because we're all going to get it anyway, please note that:
(1) Long Covid might still be a risk even if you are recently boosted. [citation needed]
(2) Infections do not provide lasting immunity. Escape mutants aside, vaccine-induced immunity seems to have a half-life of ~6 months, and for infection-induced immunity it's even shorter.
(3) ‹‹ Each covid infection raises the risk of creating a new "pre-existing condition" that will make subsequent infections more dangerous ››
(4) Vaccine production is likely to speed up in the near future (i.e. the time gap between variants and ), and maybe you’ll eventually be able start making them yourself with tech like RadVac.
(5) Medications like Paxlovid and Molnupiravir will probably become widely available by end of 2022 in developed countries, marking a longer-lasting normalcy. Open question: will the virus evolve to evade medications? I believe this is an automatic yes if the drug mechanism is via immunity, or if it prevents further infections. In the case of Molnupiravir, maybe it will evolve to evade detection?
(6) If you wait until February, this wave will mostly pass and your risk will become much lower. Also, doctors & hospitals will be much less busy by then.
(7) If you try to intentionally expose yourself, you are likely to get a high viral load, which is correlated with bad outcomes. It's giving the virus a head-start against your immune system.
Link via Devon Zuegel