I don't know if you follow Shin Jie Yong. He does some of the best Covid analysis on the web. Anyway, he just published a piece talking about how the numbers coming in, indicate that 5% to 10% of the population will carry damage from Long Covid going forward.

That, basically 5-10% of us, from here on out, will be impaired. Many, by brain damage. Which, as you point out, may be cumulative.

This seems shocking to us today, but by historical standards it's about par for the course. Think of all the TB sanatoriums, the millions who used to die from end stage syphilis, polio victims, smallpox victims, etc. Human populations used to carry much more "damage load" than they do now.