COVID-19 Severity Fades, But Virus Remains, says Dr. Yong

[webfact]

Dr. Yong. File photo courtesy: NNT

 

Professor Yong Poovorawan from Chulalongkorn University delivered an update on the current state of COVID-19, highlighting its evolution over time. While the pandemic has ended this year, the virus continues to persist.

 

Reflecting on the pandemic's journey, Professor Yong pointed out that the initial years saw high mortality rates and the need for stringent responses such as widespread vaccinations. With the development of immunity through vaccines and natural infections, the severity has now significantly reduced.

 

He compared the progression with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which initially caused millions of deaths but eventually evolved into a seasonal strain. Similarly, COVID-19 has transitioned from causing widespread pneumonia and filling ICU wards to becoming a more routine respiratory illness.

Despite some criticisms that early responses were excessive given the milder current situation, Professor Yong argued that without those measures, the impact, especially in the early years, would have been catastrophic, potentially causing a 1% fatality rate akin to the Spanish flu, reported Naew Na

 

Ultimately, COVID-19 remains with us, albeit in a less threatening form. Its journey underscores the importance of adapting health measures to the evolving threat while recognising that the virus, like many others, is unlikely to disappear entirely.

 

-- 2024-12-09

 

 

[ikke1959]

What a wisdom......I tell him a secret... Covid will never go away anymore, and probably a new virus will come up, as we have seen since the Middle Ages with the pest, 100 years ago with the Spanish Flue, and the measles... and many more I did not study to be a doctor but I just use my normal brains

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

would have been catastrophic, potentially causing a 1% fatality rate akin to the Spanish fl

Be interesting to know the ages and obesity levels of the dead during that pandemic Spanish flu pandemic. 

[Lorry]

9 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Be interesting to know the ages and obesity levels of the dead during that pandemic Spanish flu pandemic. 

It killed the young (remember people got it in the trenches?).

And in 1918, most people weren't fat.

[Drumbuie]

42 minutes ago, Lorry said:

It killed the young (remember people got it in the trenches?).

And in 1918, most people weren't fat.

Indeed they weren't. In the middle 1920s, the UK government calculated that to maintain bodyweight a working man needed about 6000 calories a day.. a working woman slightly less. Wages were low. No NHS. No benefit system.  Most people could not afford to eat enough to get fat. 

[jcmj]

Didn’t even read past the first paragraph. You don’t need a doctor or government to tell you that it’s still around just not as bad. I think most people realize that things like this have been happening for years something like this will happen again in the future. No need to dramatize or worry about it now. We are all going to die from something. Live while you can and enjoy it. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The comments expressed in the OP post here, likely sourced from some social media post by Dr. Yong, are so general as to almost be meaningless for individual people.

 

Yes, the risks of COVID these days -- in general -- are lower than they were in the past because earlier variants of the virus had more severe health impacts, and, the worldwide COVID vaccination campaign, including here in Thailand, helped provide protection that also has overall reduced the risk of serious health effects...

 

HOWEVER, and it's a big HOWEVER, the current health risks of COVID still remain and can be serious and even fatal, particularly for high-risk populations, such as those over age 70 and those with various chronic health conditions.

 

Likewise, the overall risk of COVID varies by season, with Thailand typically in recent years having increased COVID infections and hospitalizations in the months starting with Song Kran and thereafter. In the U.S., in contrast, the biggest peaks typically have been in the December to January holidays period. So one's risk also depends on the time of the year.

 

The latest Ministry of Public Health report for COVID in Thailand (see the chart below) says there were 577 COVID hospitalizations nationwide for the first week of December, and nearly 44,000 cumulative for 2024. The MOPH said there currently are 107 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition with pneumonia type symptoms and 42 requiring intubation to breathe. Fortunately, no reported COVID deaths for Thailand in the past week, but 220 cumulative COVID deaths for Thailand thus far in 2024. None of that is reported in Dr. Yong's reported remarks above.

 

 

https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

 

In the U.S., COVID levels right now are at one of the lower points of the year, but there still were more than 500 recorded COVID deaths for most recent full week of data (the last column below in blue), the first week of November, as per the CDC chart below. The numbers below are widely expected to spike upward again toward the end of 2024 and into 2025, similar to what they did at the start of 2024.

 

 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00

 

Overall for the U.S., the CDC reported the country had nearly 44,000 COVID fatalities during 2024 through the end of November. More than two-thirds of those involved COVID as the underlying (primary) cause of death, as opposed to being listed as a contributing cause of death.

 

With 2024 data added in, that has brought the U.S.'s total number of COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic to more than 1.2 million (87% of those involving COVID as the underlying/primary cause). In recent times, more than three-fourths of those COVID deaths have been among the elderly.

 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

 

Even though you don't see news headlines about COVID deaths and hospitalizations so much any more, the virus continues to take its toll on the health and lives of people, especially among the elderly, and even moreso among the elderly who are not up-to-date on their COVID vaccinations.

 

[redwood1]

On 12/9/2024 at 1:46 PM, RichardColeman said:

Be interesting to know the ages and obesity levels of the dead during that pandemic Spanish flu pandemic. 

 

If only they would have had dancing nurses back in 1918 they would have been ok..

[anrcaccount]

38 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The comments expressed in the OP post here, likely sourced from some social media post by Dr. Yong, are so general as to almost be meaningless for individual people.

 

Yes, the risks of COVID these days -- in general -- are lower than they were in the past because earlier variants of the virus had more severe health impacts, and, the worldwide COVID vaccination campaign, including here in Thailand, helped provide protection that also has overall reduced the risk of serious health effects...

 

HOWEVER, and it's a big HOWEVER, the current health risks of COVID still remain and can be serious and even fatal, particularly for high-risk populations, such as those over age 70 and those with various chronic health conditions.

 

Likewise, the overall risk of COVID varies by season, with Thailand typically in recent years having increased COVID infections and hospitalizations in the months starting with Song Kran and thereafter. In the U.S., in contrast, the biggest peaks typically have been in the December to January holidays period. So one's risk also depends on the time of the year.

 

The latest Ministry of Public Health report for COVID in Thailand (see the chart below) says there were 577 COVID hospitalizations nationwide for the first week of December, and nearly 44,000 cumulative for 2024. The MOPH said there currently are 107 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition with pneumonia type symptoms and 42 requiring intubation to breathe. Fortunately, no reported COVID deaths for Thailand in the past week, but 220 cumulative COVID deaths for Thailand thus far in 2024. None of that is reported in Dr. Yong's reported remarks above.

 

 

https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

 

In the U.S., COVID levels right now are at one of the lower points of the year, but there still were more than 500 recorded COVID deaths for most recent full week of data (the last column below in blue), the first week of November, as per the CDC chart below. The numbers below are widely expected to spike upward again toward the end of 2024 and into 2025, similar to what they did at the start of 2024.

 

 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00

 

Overall for the U.S., the CDC reported the country had nearly 44,000 COVID fatalities during 2024 through the end of November. More than two-thirds of those involved COVID as the underlying (primary) cause of death, as opposed to being listed as a contributing cause of death.

 

With 2024 data added in, that has brought the U.S.'s total number of COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic to more than 1.2 million (87% of those involving COVID as the underlying/primary cause). In recent times, more than three-fourths of those COVID deaths have been among the elderly.

 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

 

Even though you don't see news headlines about COVID deaths and hospitalizations so much any more, the virus continues to take its toll on the health and lives of people, especially among the elderly, and even moreso among the elderly who are not up-to-date on their COVID vaccinations.

 

 

Thanks for the update.

 

Do you still consider the risk high enough that you wear an N95 every time you leave home? 

 

What would it take, to get to a level you are comfortable removing the mask from the dog on your profile picture?

 

 

[frank83628]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The comments expressed in the OP post here, likely sourced from some social media post by Dr. Yong, are so general as to almost be meaningless for individual people.

 

Yes, the risks of COVID these days -- in general -- are lower than they were in the past because earlier variants of the virus had more severe health impacts, and, the worldwide COVID vaccination campaign, including here in Thailand, helped provide protection that also has overall reduced the risk of serious health effects...

 

HOWEVER, and it's a big HOWEVER, the current health risks of COVID still remain and can be serious and even fatal, particularly for high-risk populations, such as those over age 70 and those with various chronic health conditions.

 

Likewise, the overall risk of COVID varies by season, with Thailand typically in recent years having increased COVID infections and hospitalizations in the months starting with Song Kran and thereafter. In the U.S., in contrast, the biggest peaks typically have been in the December to January holidays period. So one's risk also depends on the time of the year.

 

The latest Ministry of Public Health report for COVID in Thailand (see the chart below) says there were 577 COVID hospitalizations nationwide for the first week of December, and nearly 44,000 cumulative for 2024. The MOPH said there currently are 107 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition with pneumonia type symptoms and 42 requiring intubation to breathe. Fortunately, no reported COVID deaths for Thailand in the past week, but 220 cumulative COVID deaths for Thailand thus far in 2024. None of that is reported in Dr. Yong's reported remarks above.

 

 

https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

 

In the U.S., COVID levels right now are at one of the lower points of the year, but there still were more than 500 recorded COVID deaths for most recent full week of data (the last column below in blue), the first week of November, as per the CDC chart below. The numbers below are widely expected to spike upward again toward the end of 2024 and into 2025, similar to what they did at the start of 2024.

 

 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00

 

Overall for the U.S., the CDC reported the country had nearly 44,000 COVID fatalities during 2024 through the end of November. More than two-thirds of those involved COVID as the underlying (primary) cause of death, as opposed to being listed as a contributing cause of death.

 

With 2024 data added in, that has brought the U.S.'s total number of COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic to more than 1.2 million (87% of those involving COVID as the underlying/primary cause). In recent times, more than three-fourths of those COVID deaths have been among the elderly.

 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

 

Even though you don't see news headlines about COVID deaths and hospitalizations so much any more, the virus continues to take its toll on the health and lives of people, especially among the elderly, and even moreso among the elderly who are not up-to-date on their COVID vaccinations.

 

Where is the 'recovery' box from your charts?

Regardeless of the negativity in your posts the facts are that covid19 has a recovery rate of 99.5%

[Bobthegimp]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The comments expressed in the OP post here, likely sourced from some social media post by Dr. Yong, are so general as to almost be meaningless for individual people.

 

Yes, the risks of COVID these days -- in general -- are lower than they were in the past because earlier variants of the virus had more severe health impacts, and, the worldwide COVID vaccination campaign, including here in Thailand, helped provide protection that also has overall reduced the risk of serious health effects...

 

HOWEVER, and it's a big HOWEVER, the current health risks of COVID still remain and can be serious and even fatal, particularly for high-risk populations, such as those over age 70 and those with various chronic health conditions.

 

Likewise, the overall risk of COVID varies by season, with Thailand typically in recent years having increased COVID infections and hospitalizations in the months starting with Song Kran and thereafter. In the U.S., in contrast, the biggest peaks typically have been in the December to January holidays period. So one's risk also depends on the time of the year.

 

The latest Ministry of Public Health report for COVID in Thailand (see the chart below) says there were 577 COVID hospitalizations nationwide for the first week of December, and nearly 44,000 cumulative for 2024. The MOPH said there currently are 107 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition with pneumonia type symptoms and 42 requiring intubation to breathe. Fortunately, no reported COVID deaths for Thailand in the past week, but 220 cumulative COVID deaths for Thailand thus far in 2024. None of that is reported in Dr. Yong's reported remarks above.

 

 

https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

 

In the U.S., COVID levels right now are at one of the lower points of the year, but there still were more than 500 recorded COVID deaths for most recent full week of data (the last column below in blue), the first week of November, as per the CDC chart below. The numbers below are widely expected to spike upward again toward the end of 2024 and into 2025, similar to what they did at the start of 2024.

 

 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00

 

Overall for the U.S., the CDC reported the country had nearly 44,000 COVID fatalities during 2024 through the end of November. More than two-thirds of those involved COVID as the underlying (primary) cause of death, as opposed to being listed as a contributing cause of death.

 

With 2024 data added in, that has brought the U.S.'s total number of COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic to more than 1.2 million (87% of those involving COVID as the underlying/primary cause). In recent times, more than three-fourths of those COVID deaths have been among the elderly.

 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

 

Even though you don't see news headlines about COVID deaths and hospitalizations so much any more, the virus continues to take its toll on the health and lives of people, especially among the elderly, and even moreso among the elderly who are not up-to-date on their COVID vaccinations.

 

 

No otherwise healthy person is hospitalized or dies from covid. The average number of life threatening comorbidities is over 4. The so called "vaccine" did nothing except blow up teenagers' hearts. 

 

What never was is finally over. What's the uptake of the new "vaccines" ?  Stunned silence follows.  The next big thing is bird flu, so you'll still have something to post about. 

[Lorry]

4 hours ago, anrcaccount said:

 

Thanks for the update.

 

Do you still consider the risk high enough that you wear an N95 every time you leave home? 

 

What would it take, to get to a level you are comfortable removing the mask from the dog on your profile picture?

 

 

I wear a mask in risky situations,

when I am forced to breathe the air others have breathed before:

taxi, elevator always

BTS, plane if not very empty

Shopping, depending how crowded the place is

 

I also wear a mask if I might be a danger to others:

in hospitals, when close to obviously frail elderly persons especially if they wear a mask themselves

 

I avoid contact with irresponsible,  selfish people (eg covid deniers) 

 

 

[Patong2021]

On 12/9/2024 at 12:12 AM, ikke1959 said:

What a wisdom......I tell him a secret... Covid will never go away anymore, and probably a new virus will come up, as we have seen since the Middle Ages with the pest, 100 years ago with the Spanish Flue, and the measles... and many more I did not study to be a doctor but I just use my normal brains

 

The measles is still killing and leaving children  brain damaged. All because the children were not vaccinated.

The Flu severity depends on the  variant circulating. Vaccination against the infection will keep the high risk people out of hospital and the  funeral home.

Updating the Covid vaccine for at risk groups will keep them out of hospital and  the funeral home too.

 

We have not yet  seen the long term after effects of the Covid infections. Sometimes a disease can take years for the damage to manifest itself.  For example, Chicken pox can be mild, but years later it can return as shingles and leave people in great pain for months. Syphilis symptoms can go away for a few years and then return making the brain  swiss cheese.

 

[dinsdale]

7 hours ago, Bobthegimp said:

 

No otherwise healthy person is hospitalized or dies from covid. The average number of life threatening comorbidities is over 4. The so called "vaccine" did nothing except blow up teenagers' hearts. 

 

What never was is finally over. What's the uptake of the new "vaccines" ?  Stunned silence follows.  The next big thing is bird flu, so you'll still have something to post about. 

H5N1 avian flu like all zoonotic viral evolutionary processes is finding it very difficult to infect humans. This is in complete contradistinction to Sars-CoV-2 which instantly infected human cells. Unless a gain of function version of H5N1 escapes from a lab it shouldn't become an epidemic. As for the current Covid situation it's been a non-fatal and non-severe viral infection since Delta was pushed aside by Omicron for the vast majority of people. Even with Delta it was the old and comorbid folk that got hit the worst. 

[dinsdale]

5 hours ago, Lorry said:

I wear a mask in risky situations,

when I am forced to breathe the air others have breathed before:

taxi, elevator always

BTS, plane if not very empty

Shopping, depending how crowded the place is

 

I also wear a mask if I might be a danger to others:

in hospitals, when close to obviously frail elderly persons especially if they wear a mask themselves

 

I avoid contact with irresponsible,  selfish people (eg covid deniers) 

 

 

Must be over 90% of the Thai population now NOT wearing masks. I can't believe anyone still wears them.  

[anrcaccount]

56 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Must be over 90% of the Thai population now NOT wearing masks. I can't believe anyone still wears them.  

 

Pretty much now I see only the poor old (actually young in age) 7-11 staff still have them on, probably a head office mandate.

 

Although I note the manager has stopped wearing a mask.... 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

13 hours ago, anrcaccount said:

 

Thanks for the update.

 

Do you still consider the risk high enough that you wear an N95 every time you leave home? 

 

What would it take, to get to a level you are comfortable removing the mask from the dog on your profile picture?

 

 

 

The answer to your question is yes.

 

Yes to masking to protect against COVID, particularly since I'm now a senior in the higher risk group.  And yes to masking to protect against very harmful PM2.5 seasonal air pollution in BKK where I live.

 

It also factors in that when I do go out, it usually involves traveling on the BTS Skytrain near my home, and thus being close quarters with who knows who people from all around the world.

 

Including among people like some posters here who dismiss the simple safeguards to protect their own health and the health of those around them.

 

 

[dinsdale]

2 hours ago, anrcaccount said:

 

Pretty much now I see only the poor old (actually young in age) 7-11 staff still have them on, probably a head office mandate.

 

Although I note the manager has stopped wearing a mask.... 

711 not wearing them where I am and I have 4 all within walking distance of each other.

[garygooner]

If people want to wear a mask it's up to them. No problem. Many Japanese people wear a mask because they have a cold and don't want to pass it on.  

[grain]

On 12/9/2024 at 1:58 PM, Lorry said:

It killed the young (remember people got it in the trenches?).

And in 1918, most people weren't fat.

So many troops packed tightly into trains and on ships and in trucks, so the virus spead so quickly. 

[bkknirvana]

While there is big pharma and profit to be made, there will be these so called viruses.

[Airalee]

8 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The answer to your question is yes.

 

Yes to masking to protect against COVID, particularly since I'm now a senior in the higher risk group.  And yes to masking to protect against very harmful PM2.5 seasonal air pollution in BKK where I live.

 

It also factors in that when I do go out, it usually involves traveling on the BTS Skytrain near my home, and thus being close quarters with who knows who people from all around the world.

 

Including among people like some posters here who dismiss the simple safeguards to protect their own health and the health of those around them.

 

 

If you want to mask up when going out, that is up to you.  Not my problem.

 

If you choose to take the BTS instead of a taxi (I rarely ever see unmasked taxi drivers)  or driving yourself, that is also up to you and the risk that you bear by doing so is 100% your responsibility.  

 

Nobody else is responsible for “protecting the health of others around them”  but it sounds as if you could make the rules, you would have everybody mask up 100% of the time if only to protect you.
 

If you are in a high risk group, it is up to you to determine what amount of risk you are willing to take and if that amount of risk is 0% and you expect people to also mask up in order to protect every old and frail person then perhaps you should “stay home and stay safe”.

 

Having a picture of a masked dog as your profile picture is quite pathetic however.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I made the mistake of forgetting to bring a mask when I was in a crowded area of a government hospital last month. I came down with Covid and was sick for almost a week, but not severely.

 

Mrs. Shrdlu then promptly caught it from me. Her bout was more severe and she spent a couple of nights in hospital.

 

It is still around and it is no hoax.

[BangkokReady]

On 12/9/2024 at 1:58 PM, Lorry said:

It killed the young (remember people got it in the trenches?).

 

Young and healthy people, in the trenches???  🤔

[BangkokReady]

On 12/9/2024 at 9:33 AM, webfact said:

While the pandemic has ended this year

 

Maybe in Thailand.  Everywhere else it was over two years ago.  And it seems that many Thai people still want to follow anti-covid measures now.

 

I wonder what it is about covid that has the Thai people so enamoured...  🤔

[blaze master]

On 12/11/2024 at 1:22 AM, Lorry said:

I wear a mask in risky situations,

when I am forced to breathe the air others have breathed before:

taxi, elevator always

BTS, plane if not very empty

Shopping, depending how crowded the place is

 

I also wear a mask if I might be a danger to others:

in hospitals, when close to obviously frail elderly persons especially if they wear a mask themselves

 

I avoid contact with irresponsible,  selfish people (eg covid deniers) 

 

 

 

You know airplanes have some of the best filtration systems going. 

[daveAustin]

 

On 12/9/2024 at 9:33 AM, webfact said:

With the development of immunity through vaccines and natural infections, the severity has now significantly reduced.

Fluff! It would have reduced all on its own, sans the massive collateral damage that we caused. Whenever this chump’s face was in the news it was cringe misinformation. Not an anti vaccer but that stuff was garbage and personally caused issues. I will never again be obliged to ingest anything my, or any, government says is good for me and applaud those that stood their ground. 

[huangnon]

On 12/11/2024 at 9:55 AM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The answer to your question is yes.

 

Yes to masking to protect against COVID, particularly since I'm now a senior in the higher risk group.  And yes to masking to protect against very harmful PM2.5 seasonal air pollution in BKK where I live.

 

It also factors in that when I do go out, it usually involves traveling on the BTS Skytrain near my home, and thus being close quarters with who knows who people from all around the world.

 

Including among people like some posters here who dismiss the simple safeguards to protect their own health and the health of those around them.

 

 

 

You remind me of those Japanese soldiers still living in the Philippine jungles years after WWII had ended.

 

The whole Covid (scam) seems to have become your raison d'etre. How sad.

[Lorry]

17 hours ago, blaze master said:

 

You know airplanes have some of the best filtration systems going. 

I know. 

(Not on the ground afaik)

They are also one of the most crowded places I know. 

I recently was seated in front of an obviously sick guy who was coughing non- stop for hours.  He didn't wear a mask, of course (farang). His sputum was all around me.