4 ms·

Nonetheless, the 34-year old doctor who first sounded the alarm about Covid 19 died from it--barely a month after contracting it. It's hard to know whether the

• kelnos 7y ago
  I would expect greater morbidity and mortality among health care workers, though, so I don't think that's a data point that proves or disproves anything.
  • 01100011 7y ago
    Why? I'd figure they would get exposed more quickly, but the outcome would be, on average, the same as anyone else. Perhaps the stress of working during a health crisis exacerbates the disease, or perhaps they have a more active immune system from constant exposure to new pathogens?
    • dewy 7y ago
      The expert on NYT's The Daily podcast suggested that the load of the infection you are exposed to can influence the severity of the disease, in which case a health worker working with inflicted patients would presumably be at greater risk. However, I have neither the expertise in immunology or the time to look up sources to verify whether his statement is true. (They also suggested that he could just have been unlucky...) One fascinating thing they mentioned is that a large number of people in China smoke, especially among the elder generation that is experiencing the highest mortality rate. On the podcast, they mentioned that this is essentially a comorbidity, because your lungs are already partially shot by the time you get Covid-19 (and then viral pneumonia).