Anything written by Ed Yong on the subject of COVID-19 should be required reading. His latest article is about long COVID and ME/CFS, or myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. ME/CFS is basically what long COVID is.
I’ll note here that the disabled/chronically ill community was pointing that out a year and a half ago, back when most doctors were still unsure that “long COVID” even existed.
📰 Anyway, the article: “Long COVID Has Forced a Reckoning for One of Medicine’s Most Neglected Diseases.”
A wide variety of infections can cause ME/CFS, and SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, is no different: Many cases of long COVID are effectively ME/CFS by another name.
Here’s another thing to know: Masking is one-way now. In the beginning, we all wore masks to protect each other. Well, it turns out that giving a shit about your fellow man is very boring, so we’ve all basically stopped doing that. So now those of us who don’t want to catch a shitty disease and risk becoming chronically ill and/or permanently disabled are stuck masking to protect ourselves. That means you need to get and use the best masks available.
Here’s a Twitter thread packed full of resources for obtaining and using the best quality masks:
Also, re: masking: I went to visit my folks last week, which necessitated flying and airports. For the first time in two years I did not mask religiously, and guess what? I immediately caught a cold. (I tested. Just a cold.) And since I haven’t had a cold or flu in two years, I had kind of forgotten how much they suck. THEY SUCK SO MUCH. Seriously, I’m using a box of Kleenex a day right now. It’s bullshit. We should all mask forever.
💉 To wrap up, this is your reminder that the new bivalent boosters are available, and you probably need to go get one.
Notes & Thoughts 