4 ms·

Young and healthy people are dying, but I think it's important to have some numbers for context. Italy publishes bi weekly full reports on it's deaths, here is

Young and healthy people are dying, but I think it's important to have some numbers for context. Italy publishes bi weekly full reports on it's deaths, here is April 20ths: https://www.epicentro.iss.it/en/coronavirus/bollettino/Report-COVID-2019_20_april_2020.pdf https://www.epicentro.iss.it/en/coronavirus/bollettino/Repor... It's not unfair to state that this disease, is much, much more dangerous for the 65+ age group. That being said I don't agree with the grandparent OP.

Aeolun 7y ago
> As of April 20 , 238 out of the 21,551 (1.1%) positive SARS-CoV-2 patients under the age of 50 died. In particular, 54 of these were less than 40 years (34 men and 20 women), age range between 0 and 39 years. For 6 patients under the age of 40 years no clinical information is available; the remaining 38 had serious pre-existing pathologies (cardiovascular, renal, psychiatric pathologies, diabetes, obesity) and 10 had no major pathologies. So, out of the 54 people under 40 that died (~0.25%), 38 had significant other issues. And only 10 (~0.05%) were otherwise healthy people. I’m tempted to agree with OP that it seems like it’s more of a bad flu for younger people. Of course, it would be interesting to know how many of those younger people actually needed medical intervention to save their lives. Maybe the death rate amongst older people is so much higher because doctors prefer to treat/save those that have a chance when hospitals are overwhelmed.
- amalter 7y ago
  Also how many unreported and cleared covid patients will end up with permanent injury? In another post I described how I’m tracking a cohort here in the US of healthy young MDs who are experiencing symptoms consistent with lung injury +42 days after symptom clearance. A bad flu does not limit you from athletics for life. COVID might. We just don’t know.
- tom_mellior 7y ago
  > I’m tempted to agree with OP that it seems like it’s more of a bad flu for younger people. The point of the article we are discussing here is that with COVID-19 this is not a binary live/die situation. You can live but still have serious lasting lung damage, possibly lasting neurological problems as well. I'm not aware of the flu having similar effects after recovery.
  - Aeolun 7y ago
    Fair point, we need more relevant research to know how prevalent this is. I did find multiple references to 20-30% reduced lung capacity.

Aeolun 7y ago

> As of April 20 , 238 out of the 21,551 (1.1%) positive SARS-CoV-2 patients under the age of 50 died. In particular, 54 of these were less than 40 years (34 men and 20 women), age range between 0 and 39 years. For 6 patients under the age of 40 years no clinical information is available; the remaining 38 had serious pre-existing pathologies (cardiovascular, renal, psychiatric pathologies, diabetes, obesity) and 10 had no major pathologies. So, out of the 54 people under 40 that died (~0.25%), 38 had significant other issues. And only 10 (~0.05%) were otherwise healthy people. I’m tempted to agree with OP that it seems like it’s more of a bad flu for younger people. Of course, it would be interesting to know how many of those younger people actually needed medical intervention to save their lives. Maybe the death rate amongst older people is so much higher because doctors prefer to treat/save those that have a chance when hospitals are overwhelmed.

amalter 7y ago
Also how many unreported and cleared covid patients will end up with permanent injury? In another post I described how I’m tracking a cohort here in the US of healthy young MDs who are experiencing symptoms consistent with lung injury +42 days after symptom clearance. A bad flu does not limit you from athletics for life. COVID might. We just don’t know.
tom_mellior 7y ago
> I’m tempted to agree with OP that it seems like it’s more of a bad flu for younger people. The point of the article we are discussing here is that with COVID-19 this is not a binary live/die situation. You can live but still have serious lasting lung damage, possibly lasting neurological problems as well. I'm not aware of the flu having similar effects after recovery.
- Aeolun 7y ago
  Fair point, we need more relevant research to know how prevalent this is. I did find multiple references to 20-30% reduced lung capacity.