Why not get infected with Covid-19 and get out of it?
It has only been about seven months since the world learned that a dangerous new coronavirus was among us and even to this day what we know about COVID-19 is changing rapidly. A question has been on the back of many minds in this pandemic: If we will all contract the coronavirus eventually, why not get out of it now? It is an important question. This is a new virus for which none of us are likely to have immunity, the more people get it and the more people become immune, the more difficult it is for the virus to continue to spread.
However, we probably need to have 65% -70% of the population immune before it becomes extinct or becomes endemic. If our battle against coronavirus is a baseball game, we are somewhere in the first half of the game. It makes sense to flatten the curve enough to avoid overwhelming our hospitals and get over this as quickly as possible without causing excess deaths. In recent days, experts have questioned the concept of group immunity, raising the possibility that immunity is short-lived, leaving us vulnerable to the virus as if we had never had it, but it is probable that these antibodies increase when we return to get exposed to the virus and still stop reinfection, along with the rest of the immune system.
On the other hand, delaying the spread of disease not only helps hospitals cope with overloads; It also gives us time to do medical research, identify treatments, and find vaccines, especially in the most vulnerable population due to known risk factors. Our experience dealing with the virus has confirmed the latter. It is perhaps better to get sick from the coronavirus now, than in the first months of the pandemic.
If we look at the ever-evolving history of this epidemic, doctors and researchers initially focused on the acute phase of COVID-19, but continuous follow-up after discharge has detected the persistence of some symptoms, called “Post-Covid 19” syndrome or “long haulers” patients, nickname taken from long-distance carriers.
About 80% of people with COVID-19 end up having a mild response, and most of those cases resolve in about two weeks. For people who have a severe response to the virus, recovery can take three to six weeks. But now, there are reports of coronavirus patients that are taking much longer to recover.
Post-viral syndromes were already known, as in the case of the flu (influenza) or in mononucleosis (the kissing disease), where patients may remain tired or fatigued and may have a persistent cough in the case of the flu, not related to the presence of the virus. Some figures suggest that one-third to one-half of the people who have recovered from the acute phase of the coronavirus may not feel quite well for months. This virus is novel in that it has an inflammatory response that can cause extensive scarring of the lung and can also attack many other organs, such as the gastrointestinal tract, the cardiovascular system, the skin, the kidneys, loss of smell and problems with blood clotting in these organs. In the nervous system, mental confusion problems can make you feel like you have “mental fog” or the so-called “covid fog”.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has also been linked to myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) with a higher frequency than other viruses. There is concern in sports with high intensity players such as basketball, of having sudden cardiac death if they present this condition either symptomatic or asymptomatic.
The best thing you can do now is consult specialists who evaluate each particular case. They may require a post-COVID-19 rehabilitation program or supportive home care.
The last reason to recommend delaying the spread of Covid-19 is the extraordinary progress, in record time, in the investigation of effective and safe vaccines against the virus. Vaccination to prevent the disease could begin in the coming months.
No one really knows why prolonged COVID-19 occurs. In the future, we will be able to know the long-term effects that the virus has on the kidneys, lungs and heart. Nor do we know what proportion has a 100% recovery rate. There are still too many unknowns to make predictions. We still have a lot to learn and more study is needed.
What we doctors can offer the public is a repetitive call to take the coronavirus seriously, because at this time, the only sure way not to expose yourself to the effects of this capricious virus is not to contract it at all. Chronic symptoms can affect anyone impacting their return to their normal activities. For older adults and those with underlying conditions it is worth taking that day as far into the future as possible, when we will be better prepared to deal with it. It must be remembered that young people, who are less likely to develop a serious disease, can be the spreaders that infect the most vulnerable population.
@santiagobacci
Originally published at https://www.elnacional.com on September 11, 2020.
