Covid-19 the Elderly and the At Risk

People keep talking about the fact that the elderly are an at risk group, as are those with certain chronic illness.

So, who are the elderly? Those over 50?
or 60?
or 70?
or 80?
And which at risk illnesses?

Also, who is more at risk, a healthy 70 year old, or an obese teen with diabetes?
A 65 year old healthy man who smokes, or a 75 year old healthy woman?
A 40 year old who works in a coal mine, or a healthy 80 year old?
A 35 year old couch potato, or a 65 year old avid golfer?

Inquiring minds want to know

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Lets see what traits those killed by the virus have in common.

Thankfully, people in the U.S. are NOT dying fast enough to provide a good statistical sample.

Ayyyyye

What's up DToM Hope all is well.

Which is at risk: At risk from the virus, or the fallout caused by it?

I believe people are over-reacting to the virus itself, in some ways.

I also believe that said over-reaction is what's about to cause the real situation we have to worry about ..

-YALT

Everyone on medicare, medicaid, social security or receive a pension from one source or the other; baby boomers, the infirm. The group whose numbers are to high to sustain according to some models. Since testing is limited, the younger crowd who will survive the illness (Like a Cold) are free to spread it to the target group. a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Hi DTOM

There were mortality stats in the "updates" thread. I think the mortality was low for those under 50. 50 to 60 was around two to three per cent, and went up from there. People in their sixties IIRC were between three and four per cent. How much those stats tie into preexisting medical conditions, I don't know.

ETA: Link to chart based on age groups. By Age

My wild (but still cost-free ) guess about your other questions is that we'll need more data to answer authoritatively.

Cheers

a reply to: YouAreLiedTo
It won't be widely reported because it's doesn't mesh with the MSM agenda, but the incidents of FLU contractions and death will decline, due to more sanitary precautions, and staying home.

These are from ourworldindata.org







Case fatality rate of COVID-19 by age


Case fatality rate of COVID-19 by preexisting health conditions



Interesting that with many other infection diseases children are in big risk, but with this COVID-19 they are not , which is great of cource.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I think a good rule of thumb would be;

If you can deal with the seasonal flu without the vaccine, then you're not an "at risk" person.

If you have to have the yearly flu vaccine because of underlying health concerns, then you might be an "at risk" person.

Just my opinion on the matter.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

www.who.int...

a reply to: DBCowboy

We have little knowledge of the long term impacts of this. It may hit you over and over again.


People can get the coronavirus more than once, experts warn — recovering does not necessarily make you immune

www.businessinsider.com...

"Once you have the infection, it could remain dormant and with minimal symptoms, and then you can get an exacerbation if it finds its way into the lungs," Philip Tierno, a professor at the NYU School of Medicine, told Reuters.

www.reuters.com... ainment-fight-idUSKCN20M124

Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at Britain’s University of East Anglia who has been closely following the outbreak, told Reuters that although the patient in Osaka could have relapsed, it is also possible that the virus was still being released into her system from the initial infection, and she wasn’t tested properly before she was discharged.

The woman first tested positive in late January and was discharged from the hospital on Feb. 1, leading some experts to speculate that it was biphasic, like anthrax.

Other experts have also raised the possibility of “antibody-dependent enhancement”, which means exposure to viruses might make patients more at risk of further infections and worse symptoms.

I'm not really sure DTOM. I would think that people over 70 would be considered elderly? And that of course depends on their health. My sister who will be 85 on Tuesday (go Sis!) has Alzheimer but is generally in fantastic health. The Doctors are amazed that she is thin, active and her disease doesn't seem to be progressing rapidly however, she does need gentle reminders of what/when to eat, medicine etc...the usual.
She does get the yearly flu vaccine so while I would consider her "at risk" that would only be if one of us other members of the family presented with symptoms.
We are generally a healthy bunch but, when someone has gotten what we suspected was a cold we self isolate to the bedroom as much as possible and go a little overboard with cleaning and germ wipes. There are 7 of us in the household.

Second on the list IMO would be the kids Dad (compromised immunity). He has heart disease, COPD, emphysema, diabetes something with his kidneys so I would imagine that if he were to be infected, it could be very scary however he is generally healthy as a horse despite smoking like a freight train, drinking booze, eating bacon and out to eat a lot so...who knows...

I think common sense dictates who is "at risk". At least I'd like to think that is who we should be concerned about...

Do we know what the virus does to "at risk" people to kill them? I had a friend with an underlying lung problem, who died from the Flu because he coughed himself into a fatal heart attack.

I blame his not taking cough medicine, but his official cause of death was heart attack.

originally posted by: carewemust

Thankfully, people in the U.S. are NOT dying fast enough to provide a good statistical sample.

Not to mention that 85% of them have died in one facility.

a reply to: YouAreLiedTo

Doing well! Hope you are too!

Yeah, I worry more about supply chanin and economic fallout....but it would be nice to know what this higher risk "elderly" group really is....and which conditions are higher risk...I have read heart disease and diabetes mentioned.

a reply to: DBCowboy

I was offered the flu shot...but do they offer it to everyone, or only those over 55?
I dunno.
I don't go to the doctor much.

Never had a flu shot, and I'm not sure I ever had the flu.....well, maybe once in 1994. All I know is I was pretty sick, had a fever and it wasn't bronchitis or pneumonia.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: DBCowboy

I was offered the flu shot...but do they offer it to everyone, or only those over 55?
I dunno.
I don't go to the doctor much.

Never had a flu shot, and I'm not sure I ever had the flu.....well, maybe once in 1994. All I know is I was pretty sick, had a fever and it wasn't bronchitis or pneumonia.

Then perhaps you'll be just fine.

I've had the flu, I've had pneumonia, I'm a smoker. . . . etc.

The more we all learn about this virus, the better (I think) my chances are.

a reply to: DBCowboy
Well, I have had bronchitis, twice, over 30 years ago...and it was work-related. And walking pneumonia over ten years ago....but a mild case.

So, I'm not terribly worried. Pretty darn healthy, and take supplements, try to eat right.

Although it would suck to get a mild case of Covid-19 now, and then have it reappear with a vengeance next year

Thanks to those who put up the graphs, and links to the graphs, makes it a lot easier to find, rather than scroll through the Updates threads

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe

Not to mention that 85% of them have died in one facility.

This probably helps explain how it got so serious so fast at the nursing home:

‘Germ-fes t’ party preceded deadly Washington nursing home coronavirus outbreak

In the days before the Life Care Center nursing home became ground zero for coronavirus deaths in the U.S., there were few signs it was girding against an illness spreading rapidly around the world.

Visitors came in as they always did, sometimes without signing in. Staffers had only recently begun wearing face masks, but the frail residents and those who came to see them were not asked to do so. And organized events went on as planned, including a purple-and-gold-festooned Mardi Gras party last week, where dozens of residents and visitors packed into a common room, passed plates of sausage, rice and king cake, and sang as a Dixieland band played “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

That was just three days before last Saturday’s announcement that a Life Care health care worker in her 40s and a resident in her 70s had been diagnosed with the new virus...

Of the 14 deaths across the nation as of today, at least nine have been linked to the Seattle-area nursing home, along with at least a dozen other infections.

This seems to suggest a very quick incubation period; but it does not specify that the ill patients themselves attended the party. It's also very likely that multiple patients were already exposed/infected, so by the time of the party, it was quite the "germfest" and proliferated from there. It would be informative to see a more definitive timeline...

a reply to: Boadicea

In close quarters like that, would it matter if they actually attended the party?
Probably a rather warm, dry environment, with shared ventilation. Probably not the cleanest place in the world...I think I read the place had been written up in 2019.