(2022-12-10) Kaminski What I Tell Friends About Covid In December 2022

Peter Kaminski: What I Tell Friends About COVID-19 in December 2022. Version 2022-12-10-001.

F. My baseline: DON'T get infected by COVID. Do whatever it takes. If you've already had COVID, DON'T get infected again

G. Vaccines greatly improve the chance that you won't get hospitalized or die (right away) from COVID. However, they do NOT keep someone from getting or transmitting COVID. They do NOT give "sterilizing immunity".

I. Assume that anyone can have COVID, and may not know or care that they do. Avoid breathing air from other people who may have COVID, because COVID virus particles float and stay in the air they've exhaled, like smoke particles.

always wear an N95 or equivalent (filter mask)

The mask I wear: https://envomask.com/. It's comfortable and doesn't fog glasses. It is not fashionable-looking, and it is expensive (although they have a big sale 3-4 times a year)

Public toilets aerosolize human waste when flushed, creating a cloud of virus particles in the room.

COVID directly and indirectly causes damage to the protective cells (the endothelium) that line all the large and tiny blood vessels throughout your body. That causes a cascade of damage that can affect any system of your body,

O. To summarize, even in mild cases of COVID, even in kids, there is often damage to any one or several systems of your body

R. A significant percentage (1 in 10 to 1 in 5) of people who get COVID get long COVID,

T. The world changed in 2020, when SARS-CoV-2 started spreading and created the COVID pandemic. The pandemic is not over.