My understanding is that many survivors have long lasting physical hardships that impact their day to day health significantly, even a year after infection.
Other second and third order effects could account for this as well.
People really don’t understand that 25% of people who contract Covid-19 have long term effects from it. It can shred your heart, it can ruin your lung capacity, there are reports of seizures in a small portion, and yet people will talk about how “it’s just a flu.”
Honestly, the long term effects scare me far more than the infection itself.
This one gives a number of 50% that exhibit long term symptoms, but I don't believe that 50% number is what I was referring to in my earlier comment. I believe the 20-25% number I was referencing was for specifically long term physical damage, not just symptoms.
Highlights from the article:
- "Some previously healthy people who survived COVID have been left with evidence of injury to the heart and kidneys"
A close friend of mine caught COVID-19 in November and still can't climb a flight of stairs without serious effort and labored breathing. They were an otherwise perfectly health mid-20s male with no other health issues. It absolutely thrashed their lungs and lung capacity.
- "[...] doctors around the world were reporting various brain conditions in people with COVID."
A non-trivial amount of people who catch COVID have developed seizures. Whether it's because of COVID or just exacerbated by the virus is unclear yet, but there is a clear relationship between the two that will probably become clearer with more time and data.
- "There also are people who survived COVID and have no evidence of injury to the heart, kidneys, or brain — but who nevertheless have not returned to full health. They still have fatigue, body aches, shortness of breath, difficulty concentrating, inability to exercise, headache, and trouble sleeping. Some studies find that more than 50% of people who "recovered" from COVID remain hobbled by these symptoms three months later."
Even if you do recover with no discernible damage to your body, there are people who maintain symptoms for months afterwards. There are reports of some people having 103+ degree fevers for weeks on end after catching it.
Morbidity of the virus is decreasing, and with the vaccine in full swing we're getting a grip on things, but people really do downplay how serious catching the virus was.
Other second and third order effects could account for this as well.