BIRD SANCTUARY

There's also a new meta analysis looking at cognitive decline after COVID infections. It found that found that ~5 months after infection, on average people with mild and moderate COVID infections still had:
A small decline on language tasks
A small decline on visuospatial tasks
A medium decline on memory tasks
A medium decline on executive functioning
A large decline on screening measures (broad assessments of cognitive performance)
A large decline on attention measures (but not quite statistically significant)
...and of course, even worse outcomes for people with severe COVID (requiring hospitalization).
(The "declines" are Hedges' g effect size - in layman's terms, my understanding is that "small" basically means measurable but you might not notice it day-to-day. "Medium" is something you would likely notice without even looking for it. "Large" is a substantial difference that would be hard to miss and might require significant effort or support to overcome. But I'm not a cognitive scientist so take all of this post with a grain of salt.)

UAE Bird Expert wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2024 3:58 am

UAE Bird Expert wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2024 11:48 am You did it Joe

Sorry about your struggles. The Venn Diagram of people who care about Covid, climate change and fascism is fascinating. Anyone who cares about Covid seems equally concerned about the other two issues, meanwhile the majority of those concerned about climate change/fascism don't give two shits about the spread of Covid. Not sure why. Maybe because taking Covid precautions impacts their lifestyle in a material way that the other two issues don't (until widespread crop failure occurs, or you're executed for being trans?). It's easy to say you're against fascism without having to really do anything.

Anyway, back to Covid. You just have to accept that you can't change your family's behavior. People will suffer and they'll be surprised when it happens. Anecdotally:

My uncle nearly died from Covid in 2020 and still has major fatigue, but gave up on masking due to peer pressure.
My nephew developed POTS at 18yo and gave up masking.
One of my best friends suddenly developed Stage 4 cancer this year at 39yo and is going through chemo, meanwhile he and his wife still go to indoor concerts, etc.
My grandma died following hospital-acquired Covid, yet my grandpa doesn't mask.
Another friend is well educated and has a prestigious job, then developed long Covid and was asking me for all kinds of info. Then she went on a cruise 2 months later (and yes, she got sick).

I of course tried to share research articles, etc. but ultimately it just made me frustrated and didn't change anyone's behavior. All we can do is protect ourselves, share info with those who want it and try to build a community of Covid-aware people that share the same reality. I've met some great friends through Twitter and CovidMeetups, both online and in person.