Is Covid serious for under 40’s??

[Unicornandpeas]

My brother in law is really really struggling.

He’s 30 and has no health conditions except for being very overweight (he must have BMI > 40 as he’s had a vaccine early)

He’s convinced that if he gets Covid he will die.

I’m 31 and overweight but I don’t think if I caught Covid that I would die. (I don’t dispute that I might be ill with it)

Today I’ve checked the data and so far 627 people under the age of 40, have died from Covid....
That’s 0.10% of the the total deaths in the UK.

Am I being too relaxed for not being that fearful of Covid? Is brother in law in the minority group for people that are this fearful of Covid...? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Correction. 627 people have died within 28 days of a positive test. You’ll never know his many of those died “of COVID”. And you will likely find that the majority of the 627 had other serious health issues. At a BMI of over 40 your BIL should be worried about a lot more than just COVID. He’s on a fast track to all sorts of terrible health problems.

@BritWifeinUSA

At a BMI of over 40 your BIL should be worried about a lot more than just COVID.

Ye probably so, but I didn’t post to talk about BMi’s.

Are you the thread starter spotoftea?

Whether or not he dies, being critically unwell can be very unpleasant... The odds are low, and they survived, but there were 30yo patients in ICU...

I had Covid as a fit 41 year old (last March so over a year ago).

It was weeks of being horribly ill and I have had long Covid and not recovered

I am now an unfit 42 year old.

Dying isn't the only bad thing about being ill.

Having said that, this doesn't mean I'm pro lockdown.

My BMI is in the 40s and I had covid and I am 39.

I have felt more ill with a cold, but I do still have some lingering joint pain.

As moofolk has said, death is not the only bad thing that can happen. Nobody would actively choose to end up in hospital, even fewer would want to risk ending up in intensive care. Nobody would actively choose to have their health seriously undermined for weeks, months, years or the rest of their lives. Being seriously overweight definitely puts your db in a high risk category, hence the early vaccination.

I had it in October, and other than losing my sense of smell, was fine. I'm 50.

Btw, at any age, you are more likely to survive it than die of it... you don’t know until you’re dying of it that you’re one of the unlucky ones, fairly obviously...

There have been 627 deaths. So it is possible, it is not something minor. There is also the possibility of passing it on to someone older, or of long Covid.

I think most would survive 28d so there may be more than that.

No one I know of any age has had it seriously. Includes my mum, cousin and about 20% of my work colleagues.

Obesity in Covid is a big risk factor, he needs to lose weight if he is really worried about it. Easier said than done though I appreciate.

I'm not scared of dying of covid. I am scared of long covid though.

He probably wouldn’t die, but I have known people in their 30s and 40s die of it. So not completely ridiculous.

I am 42 and have a normal BMI, and I was sick with covid for 8 weeks. DH was ill for 6 weeks. Neither of us needed hospital, so wouldn’t be counted in any of the stats, but it was still something I would try to avoid ever having again. It was horrible. I was far too sick to look after DS, and there was one evening where I couldn’t stay awake or sit up without feeling dizzy and faint, and I was genuinely worried l was septic and might not wake up again. But too sick to communicate that to DH.

@BritWifeinUSA

Correction. 627 people have died within 28 days of a positive test. You’ll never know his many of those died “of COVID”. And you will likely find that the majority of the 627 had other serious health issues. At a BMI of over 40 your BIL should be worried about a lot more than just COVID. He’s on a fast track to all sorts of terrible health problems.

This. Lots of patients have died after 28 days

Btw, is that figure for all patients under 40? Often Covid Deniers/Downplayers have Othered people like your BIL (his obesity makes him one of the Underlying Condition People). They frequently quote numbers relating to people without underlying conditions. Regardless, more than 600 young people dead isn't a low number.

Many more are only alive because the hospitals had capacity to treat them.

Separately, being in hospital seriously ill is definitely something any sane person would want to avoid.

Absolutely, as others have said, death is not the only issue. Many patients have been left very unwell long term with debilitating issues - and we don't yet know how much damage everyone has suffered.

Only a few Long Covid patients have accessed scans so far. Of those who have, doctors have observed heart, lung, kidney, and other damage. It's also been linked to development of diabetes.

So all in all your BIL is right to be take a cautious approach. He has an underlying condition that puts him at increased risk, but even if he didn't have obesity he clearly very sensibly wants to avoid potentially being left alive but incapable of working.

Covid or Long Covid are risks to all including under 40s.

But of course there's also the simple fact that even if it wasn't a risk to them, most normal people care about family members and friends and colleagues who are over 40 or younger but with underlying conditions.

Your BIL probably doesn't want to risk the lives and health of his parents or grandparents or aunts or uncles or older siblings or cousins or friends or workmates - or CEV children he might know.

Basically he's not a psychopath.

I had it age 32. I just had loss of smell. I kept waiting for something to happen but nothing did!

It can be. And personally I don't intend to find out. I'm not fearful to the point of disrupting my life but I'm doing what I reasonably can to not catch it. I don't go into the office unless I need to. I didn't rush out to cafes and restaurants the day they opened. I handwash, mask up, and keep my distance.

OP 89 (yes 89!!!) people under 40 without underlying conditions have died in England (nlt UK) during entire pandemic

Anyone healthy and under 40 who gives covid a second thought is crazy

@Watapalava

Anyone healthy and under 40 who gives covid a second thought is crazy

Isn’t obesity classed as an “underlying health condition”...?

No one knows how badly it will affect them if they get it. There is such a range - from asymptomatic, all the way through to hospitalisation and death. The chances of him dying because of Covid are very small, even though he is obese. However, I suspect that because of his weight he is probably more at risk of other complications associated with Covid.

@Watapalava

OP 89 (yes 89!!!) people under 40 without underlying conditions have died in England (nlt UK) during entire pandemic

Anyone healthy and under 40 who gives covid a second thought is crazy

Someone obese isn't a healthy person though to be fair.

As a rough rule of thumb, your risk of dying of Covid, if you catch it, is the same as your risk of dying of natural causes in the next year. Obviously on a population level that’s huge, because it’s doubling the risk of death for everyone who catches it. But for an individual it gives some positive perspective. If you don’t have serious concerns about your chances of making it to your next birthday then you shouldn’t be particularly paranoid about your chances of dying should you catch Covid. And you should probably tell your DBIL that. Those are based on pre-vaccination stats by the way, so his odds should be even better than that suggests.

That said, everyone upthread is right to point out that Covid can be really really nasty for younger obese people and take a lot of recovery, so a level of caution is no bad thing.

@Watapalava

OP 89 (yes 89!!!) people under 40 without underlying conditions have died in England (nlt UK) during entire pandemic

Anyone healthy and under 40 who gives covid a second thought is crazy

Seriously ??? Do you have a link for that ? That's really not a high number.