People in same family dying

[Hotlungs]

Why is it that in several reported cases there have been two family members dying/getting seriously ill? I was thinking genetics but there have been husband and wife cases too. Why could this be?

Viral load? One family member getting a severe case could mean a worse dose for the rest of the family via exposure?

Viral load perhaps.

High viral load
Age
People with health challenges getting married because they understand each other better
Married couples having similar lifestyles that have led to health challenges
Coincidence
?

I’ve heard the viral load is the amount of infection you have but that infection load is how much you are exposed to? Would that be because they have a higher viral load so if you are exposed to their droplets you get a higher infection dose? Is that scientifically correct?

There has been a family near me who have lost two parents in their 80s and a daughter in their 60s

One family member gets it and gives the virus to the other family member who may be caring for them (if they werent able to self isolate within the home)

it could be because they are similar genetically.

@cosy but that doesn’t explain why they would both/all be so seriously effected

@NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1Yes I thought that with family members but a husband and wife wouldn’t have similar genetic code?
I agree with @Therabble that lifestyle may have some impact
I wonder if they are planning to look in to this

similar lifestyles as well, drinking smoking living in poverty, attitude towards seeking health care not to mention exposure, location/distance to health care.
maybe in the end they will find different strains of covid?? why some get it so mild virtually not noticeable and others get so ill??

Even if the distribution of deaths is totally random you would expect some clusters. As it’s not totally random there may be links between the deaths such as underlying medical conditions or being overweight making clusters even more likely.

How awful for those poor families.

@fallfallfall Yes could be different strains

@noble I totally agree. Absolutely tragic and very unfair.

If lots of people in a house then the last to get it would have been exposed to much more.
The boy that died had many siblings for eg.
Also overcrowding generally so room sharing not being able to SI.

Diet maybe vit D similar
Skin colour possibly same ethnicity.

Looking at other countries possibly some are more susceptible.

Plus some areas they are making people wait too long for treatment - blue etc.

The family cases will be reported because they are more newsworthy.

Similar to lots of younger deaths being reported on as news stories with pictures etc - rarer and with a tragic news angle so more likely to be included.

Stats on family cluster deaths would give a picture of whether this is unexpectedly common - but seeing a few news reports may actually mean the opposite.

The way they live will be similar so the amount of sun they get, the food they eat, the amount of exercise they do.
Vitamin D and vitamin C are essential for a fully working immune system. If they have similar life style that don’t allow them to get what they need, they will be both likely to be ill too.

@Greggers2017

We must live in the same town because I saw about this last night. My cousin lives on the same street as them.

What is the evidence that there are an unexpectedly large number of family cluster deaths though?

News reports of individual cases do not mean there are a statistically significant amount of these. They mean that they are newsworthy (likely as not because they are rare)

I think it's too easy for us to reassure ourselves with "lifestyle" reasons. Viral load is a frightening aspect of this and I think there is a lot about this virus that will take us years to understand.

Might be genetic disposition.

It's not that unlikely though if 20% are hospitalised 5% icu of which half die plus some of the hospitalised.
supposed 2% death rate but that is for all many more than that of the hospitalised numbers are dying. 11k/80k ? So 1/8 of so 12.5%
So if you are both unlucky enough to become a case by being hospitalised 25% chance one of you will die.

The who said their wasnt really an iceberg for covid so few asymptomatic cases. And we cant find out because most places arent testing in the community

No evidence at all on this thread that there are any more deaths in families than you would naturally expect.

Why is everyone positing theories to explain something not established as true in the first place?

Keepsdistance is only sensible post so far.

@PyongyangKipperbang are you Burton? I live between Derby and Burton. 👋🏼👋🏼 hi!

@Greggers2017

Yes, well the other side of the river towards S Derbys. If you are in one of the villages then I probably drove through today as I went the back way to Mickleover to get mums shopping!

It was awful when we read about that poor family, my cousin was in pieces as she knew them very well.