There's No Such Thing as 'Mild' Covid

The data is clear: covid will mess you up bad.

The facts.

Covid brutalizes the human body.

It does so with or without symptoms.

It eats away at tissue.

It destroys blood vessels.

It pulverizes the heart, brain, liver, lungs and kidneys.

It infects lymphocytes and causes lymphocytopenia (which are things HIV does).

It remains in the body long after the acute infection, lurking, reawakening old diseases, releasing toxins and bullying your healthy cells into submission.

Reinfections make it all worse.

Vaccines, while essential, don’t protect from much of this onslaught.

Hundreds of thousands of studies have shown how extremely dangerous covid is to anyone and everyone, including you.

Exactly zero studies conclude that covid is “mild”, benign, nothing more than a cold. Zero.

It’s time to — once and for all — stop using that word to describe covid infection. There’s no such thing as “mild” covid.

This is the science you may not know but should know. Note that everything discussed here is backed by scores of evidence and empirical data from some of the world’s leading scientific institutions and public health agencies, including from the United States government. All sources are underlined and linked in the text so you can explore them for yourself.

I hope you use this overlooked information to take the appropriate steps to protect yourself and those around you. Let’s dive in…

Body-wide Destruction

The absurdity of using the word “mild” in association with COVID-19, the third-leading cause of death in the United States, cannot be overstated.

It’s like saying a “mild battery acid facial burn” or a “mild amputation.” It simply doesn’t make sense (amputation, by the way, a documented complication of covid infection).

What I want you to know is that a covid infection is dangerous to anyone and everyone regardless of your age, background, health condition, vaccination status or any other qualifier.

But don’t just take it from me. The CDC recently acknowledged the danger that all of the studies have shown for years:

“Emerging evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can have lasting effects on nearly every organ and organ system of the body weeks, months, and potentially years after infection.” — The CDC

I mean, it is right there in the name. SARS stands for “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome”. So, by default, it cannot be mild. It’s not MARS.

Indeed, the word “mild” to describe covid is the world’s biggest misnomer.

It’s true, the acute phase of covid infection could only manifest itself in the initial physical symptoms of light sniffles (it could also manifest itself in sudden death, so just keep that in mind).

But studies have shown that any covid infection increases risk of death 10x for at least a year after infection for all who catch it.

Many people are asymptomatic during the acute infection phase as well. How many covid infections have you had that you didn’t know about? A scary prospect once you read what we’re about to cover.

The truth that many continue to ignore, downplay or deny is clear when you examine the data. The data proves, without a shadow of a doubt, the torrential, unrelenting damage even one covid infection can do.

You see, covid is NOT really a respiratory illness. Researchers at Oxford University call it a “Serious Vascular Disease with Primary Symptoms of a Respiratory Ailment”. So, you need to stop comparing it to colds and flus. No cold killed 30,000+ Americans in less than two months in 2023. Covid did so in January and February. So, please stop comparing them.

But if it’s not really a flu-like illness, what is it?

SARS-COV-2, the virus, enters the body via the respiratory system. But it very quickly begins infiltrating other systems in your body. After binding to the ACE-2 receptors in your nose (or sometimes mouth or eyes) to set off an infection, it digs itself into your blood vessels. It infects the endothelial wall, the physical lining of your blood vessels.

Other viruses, like the ones that cause the common cold, don’t do this. They just don’t. It’s not how cold viruses function in the body. SARS2 on the other hand does.

From there, the covid virus has VIP access to every corner of your body.

Your blood vessels. Your heart. Your internal organs. Your brain.

At any (and maybe all) of these points, covid could inflict untold, irreparable harm on you.

Possibly the scariest effect of covid’s onslaught is its ability to do serious damage to the body long-term. Many disease scientists and researchers now believe viral persistence — that is, where the virus takes up shop in viral reservoirs all over the body and remains active — is the most likely culprit in Long Covid, a debilitating chronic illness those who suffer from describe as “torture”.

1-in-5 infections results in Long Covid. The risk for developing Long Covid goes up with each infection. And there are no treatment options available for this terrible condition.

The long-term damage inflicted on the body can physically show itself as the painful, untreatable symptoms seen in Long Covid. The even worse news is that vaccinations, while they do lower some risks, don’t seem to protect from Long Covid. This very large study found vaccinated individuals still had a 1-in-5 chance of developing Long Covid after being infected with Omicron sub variants.

And, while I’m sticking with the 1-in-5 stat because that’s what the CDC claims, this is a conservative estimate. This massive study found 31% of non hospitalized and 65% of hospitalized covid patients had long-term chronic health issues at 2 years after infection.

On its own, Long Covid could ruin your life. But what about the rest of the harm a covid infection could cause?

The long-term damage caused by covid can be asymptomatic. For example, the covid virus causes damage to the heart, among many other organs. This is because the virus itself attacks heart tissue. Your first symptom of this heart damage could be a fatal heart attack. Not ideal.

This is why the CDC recently updated its definition for covid to be listed in death certificates to consider the “possibility that death was due to long-term complications of COVID-19, even if the original infection occurred months or years before.”

The data backs up this decision by the CDC.

Cardiovascular deaths amongst 25-44 year olds have skyrocketed since the beginning of 2020: some 30-40% more deaths of heart attacks, strokes and blood clots in young people since the pandemic started. Scores of scientific literature show unequivocally that covid is the cause of this drastic rise in cardiac events.

Young people are not supposed to die of heart attacks.

SARS2 damages blood vessels. This causes a seemingly endless list of potential consequences.

Any and all people who are infected with covid are ridden with an array of cardiovascular risks.

Take your pick from which study is the one that’s a dealbreaker for you, and while you’re at it, start ordering some more masks.

This analysis says you have a 39% increase in risk of a heart attack or stroke for 18 months after infection.

This study found 1 out of every 22 people infected with covid will have a major cardiac event within 12 months of recovery.

And this study found you are 5x more likely to die of cardiovascular disease after covid infection, compared to non-infected controls.

As The Washington Post writes in their investigation, “People who’d survived COVID-19 were more likely to experience abnormal heartbeats, blood clots, chest pain and palpitations, even heart attacks and strokes up to a year later compared to the uninfected.”

Your covid infection doesn’t have to be serious during the acute phase for serious outcomes later. One analysis summarized a new study about blood vessel damage in clear terms: “The short version is that even among those who had COVID but no symptoms, there is tissue damage.”

All it takes is one tiny damaged blood vessel to end your life. Imagine having tissue damage throughout your body caused by this vascular disease.

Covid doesn’t just do cardiovascular damage. Recent studies have found the virus billowed into virtually every major organ of the human body.

We have scores of research showing it harms the brain, liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, eyes, gastrointestinal tract, reproductive system and more.

Covid has been linked to increased risks for Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, diabetes, hepatitis, liver failure, kidney failure, erectile dysfunction, hearing loss, vision loss, hair loss, permanent loss of taste, and cancer (yes, cancer ), among many other diseases and conditions.

Read the linked studies above and you will find that these aren’t small increases in risk. For any covid infection, it’s like throwing a dart at a dart board and landing on at least one of them, if not several.

One irrefutable covid fact the studies show: covid damages the brain.

This study says: "Even patients with mild cases of COVID-19 often suffer from long-term SARS-CoV-2 effects in the brain, including fogging, reduced grey matter thickness, and brain size"

Another found nearly one in two people who have reportedly recovered from acute COVID-19 cite disabling fatigue – that is, fatigue lasting more than twelve weeks – coupled with a series of attention and cognitive deficits similar to persistent post-stroke neurological symptoms.

Another jarring study found the risks of even “mild” COVID-19 impacts cognitive ability. It frighteningly concluded that 1 in 4 people infected with covid show clear cognitive deficits after even a mild case.

And this study found that 1-in-3 people infected with covid have developed short and long-term neuropsychiatric conditions such as delirium, agitation, altered consciousness, cerebrovascular complications like strokes, hypoxic encephalopathy, encephalitis, convulsions, neuromuscular dysfunction, or Parkinson’s disease.

This study published in The Lancet of hospitalized covid patients found that the cognitive impairment brought upon the brain by one covid infection had the effect of 20 years of aging on the brain.

This notable Harvard brain doctor puts it bluntly: “Even if people escape brain damage during the initial attack of COVID-19, they remain at considerably greater risk of various brain conditions, including strokes, depression, anxiety, and psychosis for the next several years.”

Children are also in horrible danger. All children.

A huge study published in The Lancet shows extreme risks for strokes, seizures, cognitive deficits (including dementia), psychotic disorders and brain swelling in children infected with covid, risks which remained for over 2 years after accute infection.

Another study found covid to lead to massive increases in diabetes in children.

This alarming study found 1 in 3 children have severe lung damage for at least half a year after acute covid, regardless of severity of initial infection.

And contrary to what most people believe, yes, covid is a leading cause of death in children.

Some 90% of kids have now been infected with covid in the U.S., and they’re being exposed to repeated infections indefinitely, which is a catastrophic doomsday scenario that we’re just letting happen.

In June of this year (2023), covid killed 60 children in the U.S. That is a rate of 720 child deaths per year, more than 3x the yearly average of children killed by influenza, and it happened during summer time.

The verdict: covid isn’t ‘mild’ in children.

Pregnant people are at very high risk of dangerous health consequences as a result of covid infection, including death.

This report says it all in the title: “COVID-19 infection at any time during pregnancy boosts mother’s risk of death.” It shows that pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2 were nearly 8 times as likely to die as their uninfected peers.

Pregnant people were also nearly 4 times as likely to require intensive care; 15 times as likely to require mechanical ventilation; and more than 5 times as likely to need any type of critical care. They were also more than 23 times as likely to be diagnosed with pneumonia and more than 5 times as likely to have serious blood clots.

Additionally, covid infection while pregnant poses a serious threat to unborn babies.

“Babies born to women with COVID-19 infection were nearly twice as likely to be admitted to a neonatal care unit; nearly 3 times as likely to be born moderately premature (before 34 weeks); and 19% more likely to be underweight at birth than babies born to uninfected women,” the report claims.

Sadly, covid infection during pregnancy has also been shown to starkly increase the risk of stillbirths and miscarriages as well.

Then there’s the immune damage.

Perhaps one of covid’s most insidious tricks is its ability to ravage the immune system. It infects and destroys memory T cells and B cells, your immune system’s most crucial tools to fending off illness.

This immune system damage might explain why you or your kids constantly feel sick. It certainly opens the door for infections of all kinds to take hold much easier, a process known as opportunistic infection.

But this also impacts your long-term health. Researchers have noted a striking similarity between covid’s impact on the immune system and that of HIV/AIDS.

One similarity between the two diseases is the effect on CD8⁺ T cells, a specific type of immune system cell that’s responsible for waging war against foreign pathogens in your body by recognizing and attacking them. CD8⁺ T cells are also crucial for the fight against invaders like cancer. The NIH calls them “The Foot Soldiers of the Immune System”.

The similarities between covid’s impact on the immune system have been compared to other immune-busting viruses, including HIV.

TIME Magazine, among many others have covered covid’s impact on the immune system. I encourage you to read some of this literature and understand the true risk you’re taking by getting infected with this SARS virus.

Even relatively easy bouts with COVID-19 can still take a toll on the immune system, according to a paper published Mar. 15 in the journal Immunity—particularly on T-cells, which provide long term and durable protection against viruses. - TIME Magazine

We’re really starting to get a clearer picture on covid’s immune system carnage.

This study published in Nature found that 80% of T cells die, with 20% of them being CD8⁺, within blood samples of covid infected individuals.

One crucial thing to note about this damage to T cells is that getting infected with covid harms the effectiveness of vaccines because one of the primary functions of vaccines is eliciting a T cell response to defend against the pathogen.

This study recently published in Immunity states:

“We did observe a major reduction in both the magnitude and functionality of peak CD8+ T cell responses in previously infected individuals after vaccination… The deterioration of CD8+ T cell function is seen in patients with active viral infections that had been either eliminated, in the case of HCV or greatly reduced as with HIV. This dysfunction persists for a year or more after the active phase of infection, suggesting lasting damage, despite the absence or near absence of the relevant virus.”

🚨 So, getting covid literally makes your vaccinations worse at protecting you.🚨

Moral of the story? You can just put that whole “vaxxed and relaxed” lifestyle to bed because that’s not how any of this works.

Reinfections are Extremely Dangerous

And we’ll round out our proof covid isn’t mild with one last frightening thing about covid risk you really need to know. Brace yourself:

Risks of serious long-term health consequences and mortality go up with each infection.

Several studies have confirmed this to be the case. The most startling is a major peer-reviewed study of nearly 6 million people published in the science journal Nature which found that you’re 2x more likely to die and 3x more likely to be hospitalized by your second infection than your first infection, and the risks go up from there.

This was observed in all groups regardless if they were vaccinated or how many vaccine doses they had.

So, the major takeaway here is this: if you’ve had covid, you really, really, really don’t want to get it again. You should be more cautious, not less.

Since there are so many studies showing just how harmful covid is, I can’t put them all here. We’d be here all day. Maybe all month. I actually had to cut a ton to shorten this article.

But plenty of other writers have covered just how dangerous this disease is.

Even with the Omicron variant, which people often refer to as “mild”, is far more dangerous than any seasonal respiratory illness.

According to two US studies looking at fatality during the COVID-19 pandemic, people who come down with the Omicron variant infection had a 5-times higher risk of 30-day mortality than those treated for seasonal influenza.

So, now you see the impacts covid can have on your health. It’s worth it to protect yourself.

Stop Saying ‘Mild’. The Word You’re Looking For Is ‘Devastating’

My hope is that you start to understand just how “un-mild” covid actually is. Picture yourself with Long Covid or new onset diabetes or being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s before you turn 50. Is this really worth the risk of repeated covid infections? I hope you are really asking yourself this question.

Look at it like this. Do you reject the habit of cigarette smoking to protect your health? Do you avoid secondhand smoke because all of those studies show secondhand smoke can lead to cancer, cardiovascular dangers, cognitive decline and aging?

Well, one covid infection is like breathing in cancer, heart attacks, brain damage and accelerated aging all in one, just from a few mere seconds of breathing in the SARS2 virus. One covid infection causes the equivalent damage of 20 years of daily cigarette smoking on the body.

Before you use that word “mild” again to label covid, understand that approximately 300,000 children have lost a parent or primary caregiver to covid in the U.S. Think about the trauma that has caused to this many children. Is that “mild”? Please retire that word for good.

When it comes to Long Covid, I urge you to read up on it and hear some victims’ stories. It’s a horrific and debilitating disease. And vaccines don’t seem to help much in protection from Long Covid.

You can get a taste of what “life” is like with Long Covid by seeing a person with Long Covid who I’ve followed over the years, Dianna Cowhern, a.k.a. Physics Girl, in the video below — but be warned, it’s hard to stomach.

She was vaccinated and living life like the world told her to do and then, in 2022… this. While you’re watching, remember that 1-out-of-every-5 infections results in Long Covid.

So, you can see, this is nothing to take lightly. You could very well be just like the tens of millions of Americans suffering. Who knows what your next covid infection will do to you.

Another crucial thing to remember in all of this is the amplified impact this disease has on marginalized communities.

Disabled people, those who are immunocompromised, black, brown and indigenous people and other marginalized groups are disproportionately harmed by this disease.

Vulnerable people, who many of us were committed to protecting at the beginning of the pandemic, are still very vulnerable. They didn’t magically become safe from this disease when everyone else started pretending the pandemic is over.

There are millions of people right now living with a disability, chronic illness, or are immunocompromised who don’t have the luxury of going along with the pretend ending to the pandemic.

As one person was quoted in The USA Today:

“With the removal of mask mandates in health care settings and essential places such as pharmacies, public transit and grocery stores, immunocompromised people are made outcasts. Telling disabled and chronically ill people to ‘stay home forever’ is cruel.”

Those with certain conditions are still forced to exercise extreme caution. And now with hardly anyone else taking precautions, it’s virtually impossible for them to safely access essential goods and services, much less take part in anything enjoyable, without literally putting their lives on the line.

This is a widespread feeling from the most vulnerable people in our society. It’s not a rare situation either. Nearly 1-in-4 Americans have a condition that puts them at higher risk for severe consequences if they contract covid-19.

But we’ve apparently determined that they are disposable for some reason and thus abandoned any and all measures that help keep them safe.

“I have autoimmune issues, and I’m not able to go out without a mask and super caution. I feel left behind by the rest of the public moving on with their normal lives without masks. It’s like my illness is making me pay twice!” - Immunocompromised person quoted in The Los Angeles Times article “The loneliness of being immunocompromised in the age of COVID-19”

So many ludicrous statements have been made by those in leadership positions and at public health agencies, but perhaps the most cruel phrase is some iteration of “healthy people don’t need to worry about covid”.

A) yes they do, see everything above. And more importantly B) what about those who have certain conditions that put them at higher risk? Do you realize what comments like that say? They say, “those of you who are vulnerable, we care about you so little, we’re not even going to consider you in our statement.” It’s discriminatory and straight up ableist.

There’s a word for this erasure, exclusion and “other-ization” of health-vulnerable groups — the idea that we only consider those who are “healthy enough” and everyone else can just go bye-bye: it’s called eugenics.

Given all of this, the universal behavior and governmental policy of pretending covid is over when it is clearly not over is unacceptable to me. It should be unacceptable to you too.

Aside from all the frightening health impacts and risks brought on by covid infection to yourself and your peers, it’s very clear covid is not mild in its current impact on society.

If you really believe that you somehow could get covid totally unscathed, please look around you at all the damage being done by covid — still.

The waves of full ICUs. The millions dealing with the horror of Long Covid with no treatment options available. The millions of people who can’t work because of Long Covid. The harm to our economy. The immune deficiencies caused by covid leading to you and everyone around you always feeling sick. The kids missing school with illness over and over. Vulnerable people locked out of society because there are no safe spaces. Activities and events constantly being disrupted. That Springsteen concert canceled again because one of the E Street Band members has covid for the third time.

Covid’s impact today stretches far and wide and has infiltrated literally every sector of daily life, whether you realize it or accept it or not.

And you cannot deny that the destruction this disease is causing to millions of people who are in pain, grieving or traumatized. This harm could never be classified as “mild”, so I beg you to stop using that word.

This isn’t salsa. This is people’s lives.

Conclusion: You Should Do Everything You Can to Avoid Covid

Reading just the very small sample of data featured here, you should only come to one conclusion: covid is a dire threat to your health and safety, and you should protect yourself and those around you from this disease.

Of course, you’ve heard all the arguments why you shouldn’t. You’ve heard the “you do you” concept, you’ve heard the “live with the virus” concept (shall we go ahead and live with polio and smallpox again too?), and you’ve heard government leaders and public health agencies defer to the “we have the tools” nonsense.

The data blows all of this hopium and minimizing to dust.

We know we don’t have the tools because 720,000+ Americans have been killed by covid since vaccines were available — more than HIV/AIDS has killed all time. And since summer 2022, more than half of Americans killed by covid were vaccinated.

We know we don’t have the tools because ~23 million Americans suffer from Long Covid, and there are no treatments or solutions for them yet. Those numbers are rising too.

We know we don’t have the tools because of all the data we have covered in this article that shows huge increases in cardiovascular deaths and other risks brought on by covid infection, even in vaccinated people.

Consider this. One argument influential health “experts” cite for downplaying covid is that there are now treatments!!! available. But those treatments are limited basically to one medicine that practitioners push, Paxlovid, and it comes with a whole host of side effects, including causing cardiovascular problems. That’s assuming you can even get it, which has been a documented issue for many. On top of it, as we mentioned earlier, covid causes serious damage to the kidneys. Medicines can’t work if you don’t have functioning kidneys.

So, do you see how we clearly don’t have the tools? Or at least… we aren’t using the right tools.

I hope that you take this disease with the serious urgency that it demands. There are rational solutions you have available — the tools that actually work — to keep you, your loved ones and your community safe. Most importantly: wear a mask. Avoid large gatherings, avoid crowded indoor spaces, test before you gather, ventilate the air, and stay home if you feel sick.

There is more than enough data supporting your decision to take these precautions.

Let me give you some insight if you do decide that you should be more cautious (and I hope you do): you’re going to encounter an incredible amount of friction.

It won’t be easy.

Friends and family will critique you and pressure you. They will tell you that you’re obsessing or being paranoid, or they may even decide you’re just a little too much to deal with.

You might be the only person in the grocery store with a mask at first, although, more and more people are catching on to how dangerous this SARS virus really is. And let’s face it. Do you really want to put your life on the line so you can shop maskless in the cereal aisle? Do you really want to be the reason a child gets killed? I know I don’t.

Most of us cautious folks face a barrage of ridiculous commentary. The most common thing we hear is “you just gotta live your life.”

But if covid leaves you bedridden from Long Covid, paralyzed from a stroke, suffering from early onset dementia, or dead from a heart attack, you won’t be living your life.

I firmly believe that you can safely live your life, enjoyably so even, while also taking sensible precautions to keep yourself and others safe.

That’s the thing about living your life: it implies staying alive.