“as an aside...I think (no proof) that my sister died of COVID in January 2020.”
It could well have been circulating in the US earlier than was first suspected. IIRC the original virus attacked the lower respiratory system and made you susceptible to pneumonia. Your lungs could also be overwhelmed with debris from a cytokine storm, a massive overreaction of the immune system.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8406387/
The original virus was dangerous because of its potential damage to the lungs. That virus and the variants that shared its spike protein ceased to circulate after vaccines became widespread. By contrast the current variants that elude the vaccines are upper respiratory, like a cold.
My wife and I had presumed Covid in January 2020 also.
It was a very strange illness for us both.
We were both baffled because in Dec. 2019 we had gotten the 4 banger Flu Shot and usually we both respond well to vaccinations.
I’m still pulling a titer from my Heptavax vaccine 25 years ago.
Covid lasted 3 weeks and the only relief was Tylenol.
My lungs however got hit hard. I assumed it was bronchitis because of the bitter cold winter which I might suffer from a few days out of the year.
For about 9 months I was on an Albuterol Inhaler PRN.
In the early days we heard O Type Blood had an easier time fighting off Covid.
I wonder what ever became of that theory.