a few key points
Too few people are aware of the continuing dangers of the SARS-Cov-2 virus.
Unless you have been actively seeking information, you may not know:
The Vertlartnic: Breaking News: CDC Releases "Most Accurate Map Yet" Of All Current Covid Cases Marked in Different Shades of Purest White.
It's not over
Although the pandemic emergency is officially over, the pandemic is not: the virus remains in active circulation; the cessation of data monitoring means we no longer have the information to predict surges. That is, the danger is not over, and may increase without our knowing. It continues to evolve rapidly, and new variants may be more transmissible and more virulent. See more.
The Vertlartnic: It's Alright, Covid is Only Killing Vulnerable People and Old People, Also Known As People.
It causes extensive long-term damage.
COVID-19 is a vascular disease. Although it is transmitted via respiratory route, it affects every system in the body. Like a number of other viruses, SARS-Cov-2 can cause long-term ill health.
(HPV can lead to cancer; Chicken Pox can reappear as shingles; HIV can lead to AIDS--and SARS-Cov-2 can lead, in the months and years after infection appears to have resolved, to increased likelihood of stroke, heart attack, neurological damage, diabetes, and other illness or death). See more.
Image: COVID can Change your mind; Make you lose sense; Take your breath; Make your skin crawl; Get on your nerves; Turn your stomach; Break your heart. Masks Keep Us Safe (compilation image from BIRCH)
Every Covid Infection Increases your chance of Long-term Illness: hair loss, stroke, brain damage, anger & depression, heart attack, organ damage, sexual and reproductive problems, muscle weakness, new allergies, blood sugar problems, #MasksKeepUsSafe (image from BIRch)
Reinfection happens.
Prior infection provides limited immunity at best (you can get COVID again, and again). Moreover, as with a number of other viruses, infection may damage the immune system and make you more susceptible to covid and to other illnesses. Reinfection is possible. Risk of long-term damage and death increases with each reinfection.
Remember "breakthrough infections"?
Vaccination is not enough.
Vaccination is safer than infection. But although vaccination provides some protection, particularly against severe illness and near-term death, immunity wanes quickly and even at best provides little protection against transmission or post-acute sequelae of covid (Long Covid). Get vaccinated, get boosted if you can, but do not assume that it provides complete protection.
Photo of a group of people sitting around a campfire, unmasked, with arrows pointing to different people. 1: Infected for 9 days, been in contact with 42 people, asymptomatic and feeling fine! 2: (next to 1): Infected for 35 minutes, about to get super sick, miss two weeks of work and a truck payment. 3: (2 people over): dating a nurse, 4: (further around circle): Mom has cancer. 5: Has asthma. Text at bottom: Asymptomatic? Lucky for you. Could be bad luck for everyone else. (small logo in corner of image: Sawtooth Mountain Clinic: together through life)
You might feel fine.
Many cases are asymptomatic and most transmission is asymptomatic. That is, the fact that you or someone else feels fine does not mean that you or they are virus-free or unable to infect others.
In addition, that you feel fine does not mean you are fine: even asymptomatic cases cause tissue damage.
A classic meme of Batman and Robin: Robin says “but I feel fine and don’t have any sympto—,” his sentence is interrupted by a slap to the face from Batman, who says “ASYMPTOMATIC SPREAD.”
Covid is Airborne
It floats and remains in air like smoke does. Infectious virions may be present even if no one else is (that is, that 6-foot-rule does not guarantee protection from infection, and even unoccupied rooms may transmit infection because of prior occupancy). (See more.)
Upgrade your mask: Protect yourself, your kin and community. Best is N95 with head straps; KF94 or KN95 are good; surgical is okay; cloth is poor. Any mask is better than none.
Masks Work
Masks with greater filtration and better fit work better. The World Health Organization still recommends masking “for anyone in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated space.” That is, if you are indoors or if you are outside in a crowd, wearing a mask is important to protect yourself and others.
(See more.)