even this study is somewhat suspect to me, they injected spike protein directly into the mouse's brain rather than using a natural infection. There's only a single study saying Covid can cross the blood brain barrier, so I'm not sure this methodology translates to real world infection
I'm in your shoes, and pondering this very question.
Social isolation does cause depression and anxiety, as social interaction is a very well proven anti-depressant.
Covid is also known to destroy your sense of smell. The olfactory bulb. which is neural tissue in your nose, goes right into your brain, and has no protection from blood brain barrier...because it doesn't have it.
Covid is neurotoxic. Isolation does cause depression. Both are true.
Fig 1b, 1c. Fig 5.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-020-00758-5
"Presence of intact CoV particles together with SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the olfactory mucosa, as well as in neuroanatomical areas receiving olfactory tract projections"
The first advice to avoid masks was purely to avoid impacting the PPE needs of frontline workers. So you could have ignored that. As for surfaces, it seems dumb to wash your groceries, but it seems smart to, I don't know, not eat from a salad bar that lets all the customers exhale on the food (this is gross pre-covid).
People taking precautions outside was always dumb. The concentration of virus scales as r^3, in general. Plus, UV destroys them.
Playgrounds are a mixed bag, because kids are adorable, but gross. They are constantly touching each other and their own nose, mouth and so on. OTOH they have good resistance AND its really really important to socialize young kids, or they don't get socialized. I respect going either way (I picked "allow").
Its tough to see so much angst about Covid, and the messaging has been terrible. Hardly anyone explains the why of any guideline, so you can't really decide for yourself. So, like any good physicist, I applied first-principles and so far have only caught it once! (It was post Pfizer vaccine, and quite mild).
For what it’s worth I had antibodies doing a blood test multiple months after suspected infection.
the original covid is conclusively known to impair your sense of smell, sometimes total anosmia. Sometimes total anosmia for life, but luckily that seems rare.
Blood brain barrier? The olfactory bulb in your nose does NOT have the blood brain barrier. But you didn't know that, did you? Remember this next time when you are going swimming.
Never been infected? That would require lymphocyte testing, and none of those tests have been clinically validated, and never will be. no money in that, and original strains no longer circulate.
Do you have any biology training aside from mandatory high school curriculum?
"43 patients were included in our study. Patients died in hospitals, nursing homes, or at home, and were aged between 51 years and 94 years (median 76 years [IQR 70-86]). We detected fresh territorial ischaemic lesions in six (14%) patients. 37 (86%) patients had astrogliosis in all assessed regions. Activation of microglia and infiltration by cytotoxic T lymphocytes was most pronounced in the brainstem and cerebellum, and meningeal cytotoxic T lymphocyte infiltration was seen in 34 (79%) patients. SARS-CoV-2 could be detected in the brains of 21 (53%) of 40 examined patients, with SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins found in cranial nerves originating from the lower brainstem and in isolated cells of the brainstem."
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33031735/
It's astounding how seemingly most people just jump to "oh its in your head, just some anxiety". A fairly nasty virus, that causes severe disease that literally kills people even. Penetrates into the brain, cranial nerves, spinal fluid. Causes peripheral neuropathies, palsies, paralysis.
..but no, let's just ignore all that and jump straight to "it's all in your head"
Therapy has been tremendously helpful, but more as a coping mechanism - I have not been able to get back to "normal" yet.