The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Nearly one in 20 people who were infected by COVID have not completely recovered. That is a six to 18 month corridor from time of infection. 42% claim to have only partially recovered from the infection. Most people recover fully from the infection, but some people develop a wide variety of long-term problems. The government needed to understand Long COVID as an essential to forming health and social care policy and supports.

The University of Glasgow carried out this prescribed effort. These scientists found the various symptoms to have one central focus, that Long Term COVID has an impact upon all aspects of daily life and reduces people’s overall quality of life. The most common reported symptoms were breathlessness, chest pain, palpitations and brain fog. Who was most likely to be infected with this type of COVID? Older individuals, women, those from deprived communities and people with pre-existing physical or mental problems. The study is important because it attempted to understand Long COVID within the general population, comparing symptoms with those uninfected, thereby distinguishing between health problems caused by COVID and health problems that would happen anyways. Analyzing 33,000 laboratory confirmed COVID cases and matching them to 63,000 never infected people from the general population. Both groups were followed over a 6,12 and 18 month period. About 13% of people in the study reported improvements in their health over time, while 11% reported some deterioration.

The study found those who had asymptomatic infections and those who had been vaccinated before their infections were fully or partially protected from COVID. The study showed that COVID is truly a multi-system disorder, not only in the brain, not only in the heart, but all organs can be attacked by this infection.

This winter will challenge our community and its healthcare systems. The data has shown us that the death and serious illnesses among the unvaccinated due to COVID, versus vaccinated and boosted will increase continually this winter. The level of vaccinated vs unvaccinated tells the tale. At the height of the pandemic 40% of Americans were untruthful about whether they had the virus or were ignoring safety precautions. While 68% of Americans have received their 1st vaccination, most have not received their second one, or boosters. The pandemic is still filling our hospitals with infected patients, and while most 1st nations offer free vaccinations and booster, only seven.six million Americans have received their updated booster dose.

This winter as many as 90,000 Americans will die from COVID. The University of Southern California along with The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have placed the populations lack of urgency to be vaccinated as the factor causing these deaths. According to CNN, more than 400 people die of COVID daily in America.

Citizens have a responsibility to protect their families, neighbours and themselves. Get your vaccination and do it now. While many administrations go out of their way trying to propagate an illusion of societies return to normalcy, COVID-!9 has mutated and will continue to do so for the conceivable future. Children are returning to classes, and with winter upon us, their schooling will likely be indoors. The only way we can reach a level of normalcy is by investing our time and efforts in health safety procedures.

Vaccinate your future success.

STEVEN KASZAB

Bradford,

Ontario, Canada.

October 14, 2022.