In August an immunologist declared the “Leonardi Effect” had received a “decent burial”
Fast forward to today: a new preprint shows what I warned about in 2020
Persistent SARS-CoV-2-induced impairment of CD8 T cell responses to community-acquired pathogens
I was right
Key finding: Post-COVID patients show markedly reduced T cell reactivity to common pathogens (influenza, Staph, VCZ) which is evidence of lasting immune dysregulation favoring secondary infections and viral reactivation
This is the scenario I described years ago: accelerated CD8 aging/paralysis/exhaustion/senescence, poorer control of pathogens.
We ignored it at our peril. Rising “mystery” infections, cancers, herpes flares? Not a coincidence
after covid, patients show profound mitochondrial defects in T cells specific for common pathogens
Classic signs of T cell exhaustion/senescence
This is the scar I predicted in 2020
Aged, dysfunctional T cells that can’t properly control chronic viruses
Science eventually catches up.
Protect your T cells: vaccinate, mask in crowds, avoid reinfection
Various experts, researchers, nerds etc were saying this back in 2021. Back when major news outlets were struggling to maintain a downplaying narrative (they eventually succeeded, particularly with Biden’s help). Signs of immune cell senescence, lower counts overall, viral presence in every major organ system including the brain, distressingly high long COVID incidences.
The response from minimizers (other experts) basically amounted to, “nuh-uh”. Of course, they increasingly got the media attention.
This Disease Will Destabilize The Entire Population’s Public Health And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Complications vs. No It Won’t
The barely-readable format of screenshots of Nazi Twitter posted to Nazi Twitter, screenshotceptioned to be posted here really accentuates the dystopian-ness of it all. How is it still worthwhile for Leonardi to cast pearls before the Nazi Twitter hogs? Does he also have an actual blog for people who enjoy reading rather than reacting?
I read this Wired article about the current flu season and they still inject the “covid immunity debt” as if it was still relevant or even real.
The reason for the early outbreak is thought to be the decline in immunity of the population due to the countermeasures against new coronavirus infection (Covid-19), as well as a decline in physical strength due to the record-breaking heat wave.
We’ll be doing this ten years from now and people will blame the brief moment in time where we took action to not spread as much disease.
Ah yes, the rebuttal from @TruncatedNameBunchOfNumbers that I’m sure is a real account.
Do NOT look at the replies.
Anyway yeah. We’re pretty, pretty fucked.
I’m glad to see there’s some folks starting to mask again due to how hard this flu variant is hitting, but I’m not hopefully for all those 
folks in the replies. If h5n1 kicks off in the next few years, the death count is gonna be through the stratosphere. Gonna be like The Stand.The Stand.
the station 11 at home (in terms of QOL, not literature):
Thanks for putting Station Eleven on my radar, y’all. That was really good, and also a little traumatizing. Lol.
@Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net @doubledealer@hexbear.net @Philosoraptor@hexbear.net
Glad you enjoyed it comrade. It’s such a unique post-apocalyptic story–really lovely.
I’m not familiar with Station 11, worth checking out?
Very good miniseries that’s more optimistic about the post-apocalypse. What’s wild is how it was written before covid (IIRC they filmed right before covid hit and released it a while later). It does have its villain, but it feels more “slice of life” with its storytelling.
It’s about a girl who is a young actress and gets trapped with her cast mates as a flu-like virus ravages the world. She survives by going into quarantine as people try to wait out the virus. Years later, she’s an adult and travels with a band of actors who throw Shakespeare festivals around a looped route. They’re trying to keep acting and literature alive in a world that has ended. The woman reflects back on her childhood and the path it took her, wondering if she would trade her life as a professional actress to know what happened to her family.
Absolutely. One of the few instances in which the adaptation is actually better than the book, in my opinion, and the book was pretty good.
