Ohhh SNAP!!! These Are NPR People Breaking With The Official Public Health Narrative!

peoplespharmacy |  What Does the Delta COVID Variant Mean for You?

First, let me be absolutely clear. I believe the vaccines help prevent serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19. And I am not just implying that a few people are protected. The data that I have reviewed suggest that the vaccines are still around 90% effective in preventing bad things from happening even if people catch COVID.

That’s the very good news. Here’s the very bad news. I suspect that a lot of vaccinated people are behaving as if they are fully protected against the coronavirus. They have given up their masks and are shopping in grocery stores, big box discount emporiums and hardware and garden retailers, to name just a few locales. They are getting their hair cut, going to banks and bars and trying to get back to a normal existence.

I suspect that a great many of these folks are going to catch the Delta COVID variant. They might not get very sick. They might not end up in the hospital. They probably won’t die. But they will catch COVID. They will spread COVID. And they could end up with Long COVID!

Why Long COVID Matters:

You have heard of “long haulers.” These are people who recover from COVID-19. Some had mild symptoms. Others were asymptomatic. Some were pretty darn sick. What they all have in common is continuing symptoms. And those symptoms can be life changing!

We now know that people who were fully vaccinated and caught COVID anyway can have persistent symptoms after they recover (New England Journal of Medicine, July 28, 2021). No one yet knows how many vaccinated people who catch COVID-19 will go on to develop long COVID (aka post COVID syndrome [PCS], Post-acute sequelae of SARS-COV-2 [PASC], chronic COVID, etc.). It could be a small number or it could go as high as 30% to 40%. That is the estimate of how many people develop this condition if they catch the virus without being vaccinated.

How Bad Is Long COVID?

Bad! Symptoms can include unrelenting fatigue, breathing difficulties and/or shortness of breath, cough, chest pain, muscle aches and joint pain, brain fog, insomnia, head pain, loss of taste or smell, dizziness upon standing, rapid heart rate, etc. You can read more about other symptoms and the prognosis at this link. 

If you want to learn what it’s like to have this condition, here is a link to our podcast with two health professionals who themselves have experienced Long COVID. 

The Bottom Line:

If you have been vaccinated, you are not guaranteed protection against the Delta COVID variant! You probably won’t get terribly ill and you probably won’t die if you get sick, but if you develop long COVID you will be sorry. That is why you need to be careful. I do not like wearing a tight-fitting N95 mask when I am out and about, but I do!