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Comment by kmm | Hacker News Reader

13050 people report having had covid, but only 361 had had a positive test? How reliable is it that those without a test actually had covid? What if people with lower cognitive ability are more likely to falsely report having had it.

> Only a small proportion (0.76%) of participants reported having residual symptoms,

Unless I'm misunderstanding something, it seems wrong to calculate that rate over all participants. Someone reporting not being ill can by definition not have residual symptoms. Correcting for that, the proportion with residual symptoms is 4.7%

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> What if people with lower cognitive ability are more likely to falsely report having had it.

And that's why we generally shouldn't base studies on self reported data. If you had the opportunity to compare self reported data to empiric data (measured, tracked, etc.) you wouldn't believe self reported data any more, because it's heavily biased.

BTW I am pretty sure we could observe significant cognitive deficits by people abducted by aliens as well...

"Someone reporting not being ill can by definition not have residual syptoms"

Ofcourse they can. This is trivially proven by the fact that alot of people lose their sense of smell after a covid infection. Even mostly asymptomatic people have reported this.

"It’s not uncommon for upper respiratory infections such as the common cold or flu to affect our senses of smell and taste. In fact, it’s estimated that a temporary loss of smell happens in over 60 percent of colds and sinus infections."

This is why self-reporting is a different ball-game, I (used) to not consider myself 'sick' and symptomatic if I had a minor flu or cold. One can most definitely report 'not being ill' from coronavirus and suffer residual symptoms.

https://www.healthline.com/health/coronavirus-loss-of-taste-...

If you look at the study you'll find that of the 71235 people who reported not being ill, exactly 0 have residual symptoms. I'm assuming selecting the option would have been in impossible in the form.

If you have (or think you have) a residual symptom of covid, by definition you must have had it, or think you had it.

"Ill" here simply means having contracted the virus.

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