This is a new kind of post to Pete’s COVID-19 News, sort of a link roundup. Substack is not the best medium (lol) for this sort of post with lots of links, but let’s give it a shot. Also to note, it’ll take a little while for me to figure out how to group and curate links like this so you hopefully get a more organized email once or twice a week; I appreciate your patience in the meantime.
You’ll see that many of the links are to Twitter. Twitter turns out to be a good source of COVID information if you know where and how to look. (And also a great source of misinformation and disinformation, if you’re not careful.) This may change, but for now, I’ll keep using links to what I think are good sources on Twitter.
Lastly, for the techies, you’ll find that hovering over a link doesn’t tell you where the link goes, just that it goes through Substack’s redirect server (so that it can give me stats on how many clicks per link, so I get feedback on what’s interesting and what’s not). There are some good things about Substack maintaining the mailing list, and some bad ones; on balance, right now I’d like to continue to use Substack instead of switching to some other tool. Let’s continue to evaluate, though—reply to one of my emails to send me your thoughts.
And now, lots of nice, scary links (not really chosen to be scary, I think it’s just the way things are right now).
Immune Dysfunction; POTS
https://twitter.com/fitterhappierAJ/status/1601975509688139782
T cell immunologist, warning of immune damage caused by infection (23-tweet thread) (2022-12-11)
https://twitter.com/fitterhappierAJ/status/1599001761573851137
You all need to understand the gravity of reinfecting Covid's immunity damage. Measles immunity amnesia is a one-off thing. Covid reinfects and the harm to the immune system is worse and easier to appreciate. T cells are aged (Veldhoen is wrong). (2022-12-03)
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1602340980291620864
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) can occur after Covid and in the 90-day period following vaccination. It is 5-fold more common with infection. (Eric Topol) (2022-12-12)
https://twitter.com/Dysautonomia/status/1602434888535252992
Important new study finding an increased risk of #POTS & other #dysautonomia after #COVID infection or COVID vaccination, with a 5x greater risk after infection than vaccination. Read the study … And the accompanying editorial… 1/🧵 (2022-12-12)
From tweets above: Apparent risks of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome diagnoses after COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-Cov-2 Infection (nature.com) and The risks of POTS after COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection: it’s worth a shot (nature.com) (2022-12-12)
https://twitter.com/ahandvanish/status/1602486869396267008
This is what #LongCovid looks like: a heart rate of 74 beats per minute (sitting down), jumping to 146 after standing. (This is a form of dysautonomia called POTS, which is common after viruses and is a really common post-COVID diagnosis). (includes video of Apple Watch heart rate monitor) (2022-12-12)
https://twitter.com/Naomi_D_Harvey/status/1602409380221227036
2%–14% of #COVID19 survivors develop POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). This is also an extremely disabling condition that makes it hard to even sit up, let alone stand. Again, 25% of sufferers are so disabled they can’t work. You do not want this #WearAMask (2022-12-12)
https://twitter.com/Naomi_D_Harvey/status/1602408161750749197
For those who don’t know, up to 50% of people with Long Covid now have ME/CFS. It’s an extremely disabling disease with *no treatments*. Many can’t work or even leave their houses anymore, even those who can suffer daily. You do not want this. #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis (2022-12-12)
https://twitter.com/Naomi_D_Harvey/status/1602410503082770432
If that’s not enough, there’s growing evidence that #COVID19 causes significant damage to your immune system (links in attached thread) and that *every time* you get it, your odds of organ damage, death & long covid all increase significantly. Each time. (2022-12-12)
From tweet above: https://twitter.com/RaffyFlynnArt/status/1602033509568225280
MASTER THREAD 🧵 Immune Dysregulation / Dysfunction Post-Covid For your reference - all the important papers on post-Covid immune dysregulation in one convenient thread. To be shared liberally with anyone who dares to even whisper the ridiculous notion of immunity debt. (2022-12-11)
Repeat COVID Infection Doubles the Risk of Death (webmd.com)
Getting COVID-19 a second time doubles a person’s chance of dying and triples the likelihood of being hospitalized, a new study found. Vaccination and booster status did not improve survival or hospitalization rates among people who were infected more than once. "Reinfection with COVID-19 increases the risk of both acute outcomes and long COVID," study author Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, told Reuters. "This was evident in unvaccinated, vaccinated and boosted people." (2022-11-11)
From article above: Acute and postacute sequelae associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection (nature.com) (2022-11-10)
MERS concern after Qatar
https://twitter.com/MarksOfChris/status/1602190356094881793
Step 1: 2 million people descend on Qatar for the World Cup Step 2: Oh look, MERS is spreading at the World Cup Step 3: 2 million people spread MERS from Qatar to multiple countries around the world MERS has a 34.4% mortality rate. There is no reliable treatment. (2022-12-11)
https://twitter.com/KristinBingham/status/1602189991484051457
Before Grant Wahl’s death he spoke on his podcast about how everyone is coughing (press, players, staff, fans etc). Scientists had put out a warning about MERS emerging from the World Cup I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous a MERS/SARSCov2 combo will be. We are not prepared (2022-12-11)
https://twitter.com/crwequine/status/1602313724844724224
QATAR + MERS + SarsCoV2 + no masks = template switching activated for a highly contagious recombinant with a 35% kill rate and no treatment. MERS is highly suspected in the most recent high profile sudden deaths in QATAR. Fans and players are now flying home coughing globally… (2022-12-12)
https://twitter.com/TRyanGregory/status/1602376744660500490
"Camel flu" is not flu. It's MERS, a coronavirus related to SARS1 and SARS2. (2022-12-12)
Koch Network
An older article. Still scary, a year later!
I don’t really follow this subject, and so I can’t judge its veracity or what it means very well. It still seems worth sharing, and if you have more context, I’d appreciate hearing it.
How The Koch Network Hijacked The War On COVID (levernews.com) (2021-12-22)
That’s it for now—stay safe out there!
—Pete