‘Playing COVID roulette’: Some infected by FLiRT report their most unpleasant symptoms yet

As the summer travel season picks up, COVID cases and hospitalizations are rising in Los Angeles County — and some of those recently reinfected are finding their latest bout to be the worst yet.

There are no signs at this point that the latest coronavirus variants are producing more severe illness, either nationally or in California. While COVID hospitalizations are still rising in L.A. County, and are now higher than they were at this same point last year, they remain below the relatively mild peak seen in summer 2023.

But doctors have always warned that, though subsequent COVID infections are often mild compared with a first brush with the disease, they can still cause severe illness. Even if someone doesn't need to visit the emergency room or be hospitalized, people describe painful, even agonizing symptoms.

"The dogma is that every time you get COVID, it's milder. But I think we need to keep our minds open to the possibility that some people have worse symptoms," said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious diseases expert. Each time getting COVID, he said, is "kind of like playing COVID roulette."

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Los Angeles Times

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-08/playing-covid-roulette-some-infected-by-flirt-variants-report-their-most-unpleasant-symptoms-yet