The young healthy people who are dying..

[Whitefeather01]

Do you think that those who died and were said to have been young, fit and healthy with no underlying health issues, probably did have something underlying but didn't know about it?

Or do healthy people really just die from things like this?

[Unshriven]

Well that's the thing. if they didn't know, how would we?

[OrlandoAlice]

Unfortunately healthy people can and do die from this, its just less common.

[Whitefeather01]

That's a good point

[P1nkHeartLovesCake]

When your time is up it’s up... young, old, man or woman

Young healthy people do drop down dead on occasion, it’s not un heard of

They should never of said this virus only really affected older people and those with health conditions and they don’t really know mich about this virus get

[Cornettoninja]

A bit of both. Sometimes people are struck down out of nowhere with something most people would sail through. It just doesn’t usually happen at the same time as so many other people or make the news.

Life is pretty precarious but most of the time we’re not made to face our own mortality so starkly here in the west.

It’s frightening and very sad but you mustn’t dwell on it for too long x

[RoyalBankOfFuckThis]

I suppose that's what autopsies are for :(

[TestBank]

Some maybe, others were just unlucky/susceptible to this particular virus or at this particular time
Same with other illnesses like meningitis and even normal flu. Sometimes fit young healthy people die of things most people their age either don't seem to catch at all or if they do, it doesn't kill them.

[Cattenberg]

I think one reason that so many young healthcare workers have died is because they can be exposed to large amounts of the virus, so have a high viral load. I don’t know if this applies to other young people who have died.

[Pelleas]

I don't think 'underlying health issues' are always black and white - everyone is on a scale of fitness and while some may have a clear diagnosed condition, others might have normalised mild symptoms and be carrying on without realising anything is wrong.

There's a lot yet to be discovered about the virus - there are some (unconfirmed) studies pointing to genetic predispositions, e.g. certain blood groups being more susceptible, and it might be that a combination of risk factors that we don't yet know about make some more at risk than others .

[Makeitgoaway]

I think they might not know, we might not know for ourselves, but also, none of these announcements are official and if they were the details of any health conditions would be confidential. Most of these reports are from families via journalists or social media reports. They are obviously distraught but that doesn't automatically mean their accounts are entirely accurate. We know families who court the press after a tragedy often have their own agenda

[IceKitten]

It's still generally accepted that very few young healthy people will die as a percentage of those who catch it. But the thing is that if a very large number catch it, that small percentage becomes quite a few actual cases

[DGRossetti]

I suppose that's what autopsies are for

But event then, there's only so much you can glean, sadly. At that's in normal times when there are all the resources in place to undertake a proper autopsy (technically necropsy, for the pedants). At the end of the day it can simply be impossible to tell.

With the current state of affairs, I would be surprised if there are the resources to perform an post mortem except in very rare cases.

[sunglasses123]

Didnt the young 21 year women who died last week have a heart attack. What has that to do with the CV? I know she was tested positive but surely it wasnt CV that killed her? Have I missed something? And that 13 year old young lad a few days ago. He had a heart attack too but his family said he didnt have any underlying health issues.

[heathspeedwell]

If you look at photos of some of the young, healthy people who have died, it's clear that some of them were obese.

Apparently around 70% of people who have died from this virus are overweight because being obese puts such a strain on your lungs.

This is worth repeating this to any people you know who are flouting the rules because they think it wont affect them.

Sadly not all young people have elderly relatives that they care about, but all of us know someone overweight whom we love dearly and would go out of our way to protect.

[LefttoherownDevizes]

I heard today talk of young people dying due to an immune overreaction, and it's this rather than the illness itself (bit like sepsis).

Makes sense, whether there are any clues as to who will develop this I don't know ...

[DGRossetti]

Didnt the young 21 year women who died last week have a heart attack. What has that to do with the CV? I know she was tested positive but surely it wasnt CV that killed her? Have I missed something? And that 13 year old young lad a few days ago. He had a heart attack too but his family said he didnt have any underlying health issues.

Not all hearts are born equal, sadly. And fighting a virus can really put a strain on the heart and vascular system, since they are desperately working at >100% to oxygenate the body from underperforming lungs.

[FabulouslyElegantTits]

@heath


Apparently around 70% of people who have died from this virus are overweight because being obese puts such a strain on your lungs.

Can you elaborate on this please?

[Makeitgoaway]

I don't think any of the deaths have been "from COVID" but rather the complications that develop as the body fights COVID

[DGRossetti]

I heard today talk of young people dying due to an immune overreaction, and it's this rather than the illness itself (bit like sepsis).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_release_syndrome

Which perversely means the better your immune system, the harder it will hit.

[LefttoherownDevizes]

Thanks DGRossetti that's helpful. DS14 currently has (suspected) Covid but has asthma and severe allergies so actually that gives me hope where I have been worrying

[Makeitgoaway]

There's this from New Orleans which would suggest obesity is a particular risk feature Fabulously

www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-new-orleans/why-is-new-orleans-coronavirus-death-rate-seven-times-new-yorks-obesity-is-a-factor-idUSKBN21K1B0

[IceniSky]

DG, surely in that case the young and fit would be getting hit worse?

[Noooblerooble]

There was a woman who sadly died last week. The Mail were writing she'd had 'no underlying health conditions' but photos of her showed her to be a good 20 stone. It's slightly different in that she wasn't young and she might have felt well enough but it is far too simplistic to have said she had no underlying conditions. I do think this virus was always going to kill some young, very healthy people and that is an utter tragedy but a small proportion will have some issue they weren't aware of, too.

[helpwithhouse]

I always take things like that with a pinch of salt. I used to be a HCP and looked after someone who had swine flu. This person was young but had about 5 other risk factors and unfortunately passed away due to it.
The papers reported her as "young with no underlying health conditions".
It was unbelievably tragic, and yes her illnesses were under control (to an extent) before the swine flu hit, but she definitely did have underlying health conditions.

And yes, I think there will be a lot of people who have underlying conditions and just dont know it yet.

[DGRossetti]

DG, surely in that case the young and fit would be getting hit worse?

Yes. And on the whole they aren't. One of the mysteries about exactly what this virus is doing, how it does it and (the question no one will be asking, but probably the most important). why it's doing it.

The reason the Spanish Flu pandemic was so devastating was it did trigger a cytokine storm.