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?

As with regular flu and other viruses. Just view it as a morbid lottery, only those who are older and/or have underlying conditions are more likely to win per se. Children are a lot less likely to win... But there is still a chance.

Absolutely everyone is at risk.

I have 1/5

Dh had 1/5

Neither of us are considered vulnerable.

Hypertension is the one that caused me the most concern.

Its not listed as a vulnerability yet it seems to be one of the biggest factors.

I know often it is associated with other underlying conditions but not always.

We need to justify what fit and healthy means. If you’re obese, but havent been diagnosed with any condition, you’re at risk, even though young age. If your diet is poor, you smoke and drink a lot at the age of 25, I don’t think age changes much as well.

I keep reading those conditions have the highest morbidity rates with Covid. Why aren't they included on the shielding list? People might need to be on the list in order to self isolate. Not everyone has a job that can be done from home.

Are many of the patients obese rather then morbidly obese? A relatively large proportion of the UK is obese.

Boris would count as obese?

I presumed that the young people dying from Covid were initially exposed to a greater viral load when contracting the virus, thus putting more pressure on their immune system. This would explain a little why we still see people in their 80s and 90s recover.

Yes a high proportion of the population is obese as is I suspect Boris.

I'd read about the immune system involvement, early on in this Pandemic.

The article said that, contrary to what you may expect, someone with a supressed immune system could potentially have an advantage in the Covid 19 fight, over someone with a regular immune system.

As someone taking immunosuppressants, I took some comfort from that but would prefer not to be the lab rat that tests the theory😉

A while back I read one of the drugs being trialled in China was an immunosuppressant. No idea if it had any success. I can't find much information.

I work in an ICU.
Big factors are obesity, poor exercise tolerance, smoking and underlying disorders such as asthma
And yes unfortunately for many of those who have died their hearts literally just stop.
Normally you can anticipate that this will happen but for some no warning.
A lot I have seen middle aged obese sedentary men who are very unfit

Boris would count as obese?
X
Ha ha good question. He definitely isnt slim, but not obese. Although we dont know what his diet is? This is why it’s really hard to tell who’s fit and healthy. Sometimes slim people eat junk food only, etc. Many factors to consider really.

He looks obese to me. More than just a bit fat.

I wondered exactly the same thing OP. I think that many people are walking around with medical conditions they are unaware of. The NHS is generally a reactive rather than proactive system. If premiership footballers can pass medicals etc and then collapse on the pitch with a heart attack to find they have an underlying heart condition then it can happen to anyone. Low levels of Vit D put you at increased risk of respiratory infection so would that be classed as a pre existing condition? Corona coming at the end of the winter means millions of people will be suffering with low levels of vitamin D without knowing it or how dangerous that could be right now.

We’ve had a few mystery virus’s in the past. I came down with something which I had for 6 weeks, husband came down with it 2 weeks after me and symptoms absolutely mirrored each other. Both ill for 6 weeks and really scary from a lack of ability to breathe particularly overnight. It was incredibly frightening and thankfully neither of the DC got it. This was 5 years ago. Last year both DC had a virus, again their symptoms were exactly the same but one about two weeks behind the other. It took a while to realise they both must have the same thing as one is at boarding school so they only spent a weeks holiday together and the issue was put down to muscle strain in one of them which was perfectly feasible but incorrect. We are seemingly 4 fit and healthy people who have had unexplained virus’s which completely floored us. The prospect of catching Corona terrifies me.

@LizzieSiddal "are you saying 40% of people who get this virus, end up with pneumonia? "
Looks about that of confirmed cases - we don't know about cases too mild for people to realise

WHO report

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf

Page 12 - 13 says:
80% mild/moderate disease
with about half being mild and half being "moderate"

where Moderate is has pneumonia but not bad enough for hospital

So COVID statistics breakdown from that:

40% mild
40% pneumonia - staying at home
13.8% severe disease - hospital, need oxygen
6.1% critical - need ICU or will v probably die

Listening to interviews with doctors esp out of NYC the repeated message seems to be shock and amazement at how people they describe as young and fit are getting really unwell and sometimes dying. That seems to be one of the things that really marks this virus out for them.

I don't think it's realistic to think that everyone under forty and seemingly fit who has died from this had a hidden underlying complicating factor.

Yes I think Boris is obese for sure, class one obese but still. Most people we'd just think of as a bit fat are obese. It's a huge category no pun intended. Boris might actually have lost a lot being poorly though.

I think I better stop using lockdown as an excuse to sit around mumsnetting and eating chocolate buttons.

I heard they were attributing the younger deaths to that thing where your immune system goes hyperactive and accidentally attacks your organs too

Last year my Dgd was what we thought fit and healthy. But, apparently in the January she had caught a mysterious virus without even knowing it. No symptoms nothing. By April I noticed she was unusually fatigued and my DD and I were thinking of taking her to the doctors. Then one day she woke up black! Purple rash bleeding g from ears nose mouth blood blisters bruises everywhere really frightening and i rushed her to A and E and they found she had no platelets at all. She was 17 at the time. Her own immune system apparently while fighting virus had gone into overdrive and was killing her own platelets which aide clotting of the blood. It's called ITP. There is a child version ( which is usually a one off) and an adult version which can reoccur all your life. Unfortunately she has the adult version. She has relapses one a month ago and was in ICU. So yes I can say maybe healthy young people might contract a condition to do with the immune system if they catch Covid but also I think Covid is a deadly virus quick acting and we must not underestimate it.

@sostenuento sorry to hear that about your DGD that must have been terrifying. I hope she’s shielding!🌷

It’s not always reported in the paper if someone has health issues, I know of one man who is 36 who was very ill in hospital from coronavirus, the news said he didn’t have any known health problems but it’s my daughter’s best friends Dad and he did have some sort of lung disease. Why the news didn’t report it, I don’t know 🤷‍♀️

@DarnedSocks if 60 odd percent of the population is obese, how would you propose we shield them all?

The 60 odd percent is obese or overweight, not just obese. But I think your point still stands. Shielding only works if we're talking about a relatively small proportion of the population.

I know Icekitten, then we have all the diabetics and asthmatics. Of course in a perfect world we'd shield anyone with a higher risk but we can't. Also though, in a perfect world, many (not all) of these risks can be eliminated or reduced by people taking responsbility for their own health. If people took that responsibility seriously, maybe we could shield all the others .

So basically what's being said is that if you're fat you're more likely to find it harder to fight?

I suppose that makes sense in terms of strain on the body. Going on a carrot stick diet myself then 🥺

Maybe should have renamed myself Yogalite II instead of Ponchek ('little doughnut' in Polish ...)