The amount of people suffering has gone up substantially in the ONS (UK) report. December 2021 it was 1.2 million[1] and now its 2.2 million [2]. The ONS also captures data about sufferers a year ago and when we compare this stat there has been no recovery either at the 1 year mark. 75% of sufferers are affected day to day so its not just a cough for the majority its impacting peoples lives often very severely.
Scientifically speaking we aren’t a lot closer to a treatment. There are a lot of trials this year which should get results mostly by early 2024 but most IMO wont be useful as they failed for ME/CFS. The most important finding last year I believe is Bhupesh Prusty finding HHV6 and EBV in the brains and brain stem of ME/CFS sufferers and none in controls. The same finding has been seen in autopsies of Long Covid sufferers too finding active Covid19 virus in various places in the body. This is likely the cause but treating it is going to be tough since the virus is in a mode where it hides in the cells in a post acute phase of infection.
So some progress has been made, the severity of symptoms have been tracked and validated and a lot of physical problems have been found in various research. But the root cause isn’t a sure thing yet and there are no treatments yet. It has not really stopped impacting people.
75% of sufferers are affected day to day so its not just a cough for the majority its impacting peoples lives often very severely.
The UK source you link for this month says:
The proportion of people with self-reported long COVID who reported that it reduced their ability to carry out daily activities remained stable compared with previous months; symptoms adversely affected the day-to-day activities of 775,000 people (64% of those with self-reported long COVID), with 232,000 (19%) reporting that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities had been “limited a lot”.
So, among people who self-report long covid, >80% say their day-to-day activities are not “limited a lot”. The dataset that comes with that page estimates the fraction of the UK population that would report such day-to-day-limiting long covid as 0.6%.
The amount of people suffering has gone up substantially in the ONS (UK) report. December 2021 it was 1.2 million[1] and now its 2.2 million [2]. The ONS also captures data about sufferers a year ago and when we compare this stat there has been no recovery either at the 1 year mark. 75% of sufferers are affected day to day so its not just a cough for the majority its impacting peoples lives often very severely.
Scientifically speaking we aren’t a lot closer to a treatment. There are a lot of trials this year which should get results mostly by early 2024 but most IMO wont be useful as they failed for ME/CFS. The most important finding last year I believe is Bhupesh Prusty finding HHV6 and EBV in the brains and brain stem of ME/CFS sufferers and none in controls. The same finding has been seen in autopsies of Long Covid sufferers too finding active Covid19 virus in various places in the body. This is likely the cause but treating it is going to be tough since the virus is in a mode where it hides in the cells in a post acute phase of infection.
So some progress has been made, the severity of symptoms have been tracked and validated and a lot of physical problems have been found in various research. But the root cause isn’t a sure thing yet and there are no treatments yet. It has not really stopped impacting people.
[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/prevalenceofongoingsymptomsfollowingcoronaviruscovid19infectionintheuk/2december2021
[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/prevalenceofongoingsymptomsfollowingcoronaviruscovid19infectionintheuk/5january2023
The UK source you link for this month says:
So, among people who self-report long covid, >80% say their day-to-day activities are not “limited a lot”. The dataset that comes with that page estimates the fraction of the UK population that would report such day-to-day-limiting long covid as 0.6%.
But what is the base rate? How do demographic factors affect the base rate? Vaccination status?