Why are these young, supposedly people dying or struggling with the virus

[Dickorydockwhatthe]

21 year old girl has just died and there have been other cases of young, healthy people being hospitalised and critically ill. I was always under the impression that unless you were old or vulnerable or had underlying health issues you weren't at risk and likely to get it mild. Reading these stories is making me now even want to go out fullstop for essential supplies 😩

**supposedly fit even.

Anyone catch any illness like flu or covid19 and have a reaction to it. Vulnerable people are more likely to but it doesn't mean the young or healthier are more invisible though.

No unless you were old or vulnerable or had underlying health issues you were LOW risk and LIKELY to get it mild.

Nothing has changed, but people read the above and see NO and DEFINITELY

The fact is that so far these have been few of the numbers of people who are dying because they are the stories that come to the front and that we see

Nobody ever said you couldn't die from it if you are young and healthy. People just chose to take it that way.

This will happen but and it’s tragic and terrifying but it’s rare. Young healthy people can die from almost anything, they just usually don’t. Try not to get hung up on it.

They don’t know in advance how it will affect any individual person. The people I know who have been hospitalised with it were in their 30s and early 50s, neither with any known underlying health issues.

Young, previously healthy sometimes do die from infections that most other people shake off easily. It's just that it's less common. I had a family member die of 'ordinary' flu at a young age.

I don’t think anyone knows.

Underlying medical conditions are not the only factors that make a difference.

From what I’ve read blood type has an influence on outcome (O type patients are less likely to catch it and do better if infected, A type the opposite.)

Medics and HCPs do worse because repeated exposure to infection seems to be worse than one off exposure.

In the Spanish flu, 100 years ago, young adults had particularly bad outcomes because of something called cytokine storm, which turned their own healthy immune systems against them.

So, there are probably variables that aren’t fully understood yet. Thousands of scientists are working on it.

The answer is to stay home, stay safe, follow guidelines.

The whole point of underlying health issues is that they’re not killing you. People can have them for years without realising that they have them. I know lots of people with minor congenital conditions that only came to light in their 20s and 30s (usually when they got ill and we’re under medical observation anyway). Then there’s also the lung damage aspect. Young and otherwise healthy people can also have lung and heart damage as a result of smoking/vaping/drug use/air pollution.

It’s also possible that someone who is low risk has caught it and died from it. But I would put my money on unknown underlying problems.

It means it can happen to anyone at all, there will always be anomalous cases :( it’s incredibly unlikely of course but I know that doesn’t stop it being scary.

I do wonder though, how often it’s actually that the person had no known underlying health conditions. How often do rare heart conditions for example go unnoticed until they’re randomly picked up in adulthood? And of course there is no time to investigate after because this is all happening so quickly :(

Not that it would be any more reassuring for the families, of course, having lost someone. It’s tragic whoever it is.

A seemingly young person with apparently no underlying conditions doesn’t necessarily mean fit or having a strong immune system.

Because although the death rate for younger people is low, it is not zero

That means that young people die. And some of those who don't die can be in ICU for weeks.

They said less likely.

They are less likely. In fact very less likely in a statistical way.

But in a humane way any death is terrible and because this shows us we are actually all susceptible and no ones immune they are the stories everyone sees.

They never said that the young and healthy were immune. They always said that the old and vulnerable were more in danger of dying. More doesn't mean that they are the only ones. They also said that around 50% of the hospitalised severe cases were old or vulnerable. So guess who the other 50% are? If anything people in other countries have been warning that young and healthy adults and (teenage) children are at risk too. People just don't seem to comprehend this.

There is a 40 year old pastor badly ill with Covid who was taken into hospital in Belfast. He has been on Radio Ulster today. He is still in hospital on oxygen, having been admitted struggling to breathe. He is hopefully recovering now but wanted to get on air to warn the public about how serious this is. Three interesting points -

• he never had a cough OR a fever. He simply experienced increasing chest tightening until he could barely breathe

• he was tested and it came back negative.

Only when he was tested again did it show positive

-he is a fit and healthy 40-year old, and has no underlying health conditions

There’s only one age group with 0% death rate and I believe that’s 0-9. Everyone else has 0.0something until you get to 60’s onwards. Even if your chances are 0.4% that translates into unnerving numbers in the context of a populations of millions.

It’s not your fault though OP, I believe the propaganda was very heavily publicised by the media that the young were invincible to keep things moving economically. They’re having to backtrack quite heavily now it’s clear people took on the first message but don’t seem to have taken anything further information on board. Why would you if you thought you were ok?

People may have underlying health issues they're not aware of. I'm sure this is one of the things that leads to 'healthy' athletes dying of things like heart attacks, although I can't find the article about it anymore.

But like other posters have said, young, healthy people are much less likely to get seriously ill, but that doesn't mean that they won't.

People have wanted to 'other' the threat.

It 'onky' happens to the old, to the vulnerable, to people not like me.

Now, leaving aside that those at greater risk are still real people whose lives matter, the 'othering' leads to a misplaced sense that somehow it can't happen to someone like me.

It can

It does

I think the thought that 80%of us are likely to contract this virus and those who are young are suffering just makes me worried. Sorry I've been watching too much news today need to stop as just triggering my anxiety even more xx

Perhaps I'm kidding myself but this story of the healthy young woman seems to have been reported by the tabloids, as a result of family posts on SM. I haven't seen it reported by a proper news source and even the tabloids don't claim to have any confirmation.

That's it I was very much worried for my elderly family but now I'm worried about everyone even my teenage children. I finished work Friday and have been home pretty much so still taking precautions. However my parents are stuck for shopping and in the high risk, so I have no choice but to venture out.

Reading these stories is making me now even want to go out fullstop for essential supplies

The reason you should limit social interaction is not only because you might die. It is because you might be infected, have a mild or asymptomatic dose, and pass it on to someone else - who might die.

So, if the fact you have discovered you are not guaranteed to survive it means you’re going to obey the INSTRUCTION to avoid all non-essential contact, then good!

Because the general public have been fed a load of tosh that this is generally a mild illness.

So you have people with colds thinking theyve had it etc etc.

One look at what was happening in china, then italy then spain tells you this isnt a mild illness.

If it's taken the death of a seemingly healthy young person for you to take it seriously then you need to adjust your perspective a lot.

Low risk =/= Zero risk.

High Risk =/= Guaranteed Death.

Sometimes the odds are in our favour and sometimes they aren't - either way, you can have a lucky or unlucky break.