when it comes to media coverage of the coronavirus, conventional wisdom seems to be that the new omicron variant is mild. it's a common reframe. it's mild. mild. you hear it on both the left and the right. but is it true? well, omicron isn't as severe as delta, yes, but hospitalizations have already hit a new pandemic peak among a huge numbers of children, many of alcohol are still too young to be vaccinated. hospitalized kids doesn't sound mild to me. more importantly those who insist it is mild are not considering the long term effects that an infection might have. this is a new disease. the research into it is just beginning. no one knows what those effects will be. but we are starting to get an idea. last fall the world's largest study on long covid in children found that 1 in 7 a full 14% of children who got covid may still have symptoms 15 weeks later. personally i think it is time we rethink our view of what constitutes mild and i think we need to talk much more not just