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Original poster

Is Covid serious for under 40’s??

60 replies

Unicornandpeas · 28/05/2021 14:53

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...? 🤷🏻‍♀️

OP posts:
Watapalava · 28/05/2021 19:56

I’m having a search now - I read it last month but I’ll fins it

This one shows first wave up til Dec so isn’t the latest (ill look for it) but to Dec it was 101 deaths under 44 in England and Wales together up to that point

Out if 67 million people

SunbathingDragon · 28/05/2021 20:02

I doubt he will die. Of my colleagues under 40 who have had it, many are still suffering from long covid months (almost a year) later. I’d be much more concerned about long covid than immediate death from the virus if I was him.

User135644 · 28/05/2021 20:08

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

The person the OP is referencing has one of the underlying health conditions.

KFleming · 28/05/2021 20:19

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.

But OP hasn’t said anything like that. She’s said her BIL is convinced if he gets COVID, he will die. Not that he is worried about covid spreading.

Lessstressedhemum · 28/05/2021 20:30

I have a close friend who is a nurse of over 30 years experience. She was moved from her normal job to A&E for the duration of Covid. She says people in their 30s and 40s have been dieing in A&E in her hospital from blood clots caused by CoVid, especially in the last wave. So yes, people that age can be very, very unwell and/or die.

tentosix · 28/05/2021 20:40

I'd be more worried about long covid as I have too many DC etc depending on me!

Unsure33 · 28/05/2021 21:01

We had young people at work who were very blasé about the risks until one got it and ended up in hospital and now has long covid , he was not overweight , he has had a very slow recovery and his father ( middle 40s) is still in hospital . He had multiple blood clots in his body and they were told several times he had little chance of recovery .

There are published statistical risks but then again there are the totally random cases .

Wherediditgo · 29/05/2021 12:17

@FourWordsImMuNiTy

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.

Sensible post
thethoughtfox · 29/05/2021 12:33

I know a healthy teenager who has long Covid.

LIZS · 29/05/2021 12:41

If he caught it he may not die, but long covid is unpleasant even if initial illness is relatively mild and hospitalisation for any length of time can have other consequences, especially if intervention is necessary. Reducing his bmi would be a positive step to reducing risks of this and other conditions.

CutieBear · 29/05/2021 13:27

Not many healthy people (as in no underlying health conditions) have died within 28 days of testing positive of Covid19. The younger people who have died usually have some other serious health condition. People talk about “long Covid”... you can get ME/CFS (basically long Covid) after contracting any virus. Obesity comes with loads of long and short term health issues.

SunbathingDragon · 29/05/2021 13:30

@CutieBear

Not many healthy people (as in no underlying health conditions) have died within 28 days of testing positive of Covid19. The younger people who have died usually have some other serious health condition. People talk about “long Covid”... you can get ME/CFS (basically long Covid) after contracting any virus. Obesity comes with loads of long and short term health issues.
You can get CFS after any virus but you are not that likely to do so. The odds after covid are much greater plus long covid is much more than feeling tired.
Tealightsandd · 29/05/2021 13:38

@CutieBear

Not many healthy people (as in no underlying health conditions) have died within 28 days of testing positive of Covid19. The younger people who have died usually have some other serious health condition. People talk about “long Covid”... you can get ME/CFS (basically long Covid) after contracting any virus. Obesity comes with loads of long and short term health issues.
The main response to your post is - and?

Lots of deaths were after 28 days. In fact younger people are likely to take longer to die.

Two thirds of the UK population are overweight. The majority.

Millions of working age people have a serious - but well managed - underlying condition.

Long Covid is NOT ME/CFS. Which in any case isn't something to be scoffed at or dismissed. It's often debilitating.

Some cases might be similar but the experts have been quite clear on this.

a) Long Covid is more than one issue. There are many more cases than is usual after a virus

AND

An) where patients have had scans doctors have found heart, lung, kidney, and other organ damage. It's also been linked to triggering diabetes in previously healthy patients.

PrincessNutNuts · 30/05/2021 01:53

Two people in their 40s, and someone aged from 10-19 have died from covid in the last week or so.

People in their 30s are currently in hospital with it.

This is a new variant, and it doesn't necessarily act like the last one, or the original one.

Wherediditgo · 30/05/2021 08:57

@PrincessNutNuts

Two people in their 40s, and someone aged from 10-19 have died from covid in the last week or so.

People in their 30s are currently in hospital with it.

This is a new variant, and it doesn't necessarily act like the last one, or the original one.

Stats please for context?

Anecdotal data isn’t reliable.
Did those people have another other co-morbidities?
How many ‘people’ in their 30s are in hospital with covid at the moment?
Etc etc

CutieBear · 30/05/2021 09:21

@SunbathingDragon @Tealightsandd

ME and CFS sufferers don’t simply feel “a little tired.” These conditions can ruin people’s lives, depending on the severity. My point is that barley any healthy young people are dying of Covid19. I don’t know anyone who’s died of it or suffered with the virus for more than a couple of days. I do know people in their 20s and 30s who had horrific side effects from the AZ vaccine that lasted a week or more. OP is worried about obesity and rightly so. Carrying too much weight causes all sorts of health conditions, including feeling worse with Covid19.

CutieBear · 30/05/2021 09:24

I meant *barely, not barley.

Toty · 30/05/2021 09:27

Most people are fine after catching the virus, I know many in their 60's and 70's who were only very mildly ill. Even those most at risk have what, an 80% chance of survival, pre vaccines.
A very small number of deaths amongst the young and healthy is unfortunately quite normal and happens all the time for various reasons, just doesn't make the news if it isn't covid related.

Onedaysomedaynowadays · 30/05/2021 09:46

Covid is very rarely serious for those under 40 unless they have co morbidities. Unfortunately having a BMI over 40 is a co morbidity and increases the likelihood of being seriously were you to catch covid.
As PP have pointed out there are published ONS datasets on the deaths in healthy under 40s

Waxonwaxoff0 · 30/05/2021 09:51

@PrincessNutNuts

Two people in their 40s, and someone aged from 10-19 have died from covid in the last week or so.

People in their 30s are currently in hospital with it.

This is a new variant, and it doesn't necessarily act like the last one, or the original one.

More context is needed. Do they have underlying health conditions?
PurBal · 30/05/2021 10:02

I'm anxious about long covid (I know a few people with it, one that comes to mind is a keen runner who can't walk to the end of their street and don't know if they'll ever be able to run again) and the increased risk of stillbirth (still small, but anything I can do to avoid it I'll do).

TurquoiseDress · 30/05/2021 10:11

Generally Covid tends to be less severe the younger you are but this is no means a guarantee

Personally I'd be more worried about developing Long Covid

It's a real thing, people in their 30s debilitated by ongoing symptoms, unable to work & earn as they normally would, families they need to support etc

TurquoiseDress · 30/05/2021 10:13

There are Long Covid clinics set up locally to us, in the hospitals & larger health centres

To me this says a lot about the impact of it

PrincessNutNuts · 30/05/2021 12:32

*Stats please for context?

Anecdotal data isn’t reliable.
Did those people have another other co-morbiditie Stats please for context?

Anecdotal data isn’t reliable.
Did those people have another other co-morbidities?
How many ‘people’ in their 30s are in hospital with covid at the moment?
Etc etc?
*

  1. As far as I am aware, the stats do not provide that information.
  1. You'd have to look at the stats for that. I gleaned it from public health officials on the news saying that some of their patients in hospital were unvaccinated although eligible for vaccination but that some of them had only become eligible during their stay in hospital for covid.