Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus • Hacker News Board

Re: Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus

#11

Post by 9nGQluzmnq3M » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:14 PM UTC

Huh? It's well documented by now that comorbidities increase the risk of death from COVID considerably. Articles like this make the news because they're fighting the myth that the young and healthy cannot die from it.

Re: Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus

#12

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:14 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus

#13

Post by behnamoh » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:14 PM UTC

More like COWEED-19

Re: Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus

#14

Post by jedieaston » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:15 PM UTC

It's not victim blaming. It's trying to ascertain whether or not young people that don't have a health condition are at critical risk of dying if they catch the disease, which until this story, many believed they were not.

If they already have something like a compromised immune system and die from the coronavirus, then it's not really surprising. if they were perfectly healthy, it's a bit more interesting.

Re: Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus

#15

Post by redis_mlc » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:17 PM UTC

> By blaming the person for succumbing to the virus

Intelligent people just want to know how severe the corona virus is, and what the risk factors are.

I can't speak for other people. :)

I was reading about the 1918 Spanish Flu (H1N1) today, and it sounds a lot like severe corona virus - blood frothing from lungs.

Re: Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus

#16

Post by throwanem » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:18 PM UTC

I don't think it's about blaming the victim this time. Instead I think it's about being able to say to oneself, "well, unlike them, I'm basically healthy, so I don't have to fear that the same will happen to me."

It's probably not wise, but it's very understandable.

Re: Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus

#17

Post by dreary_dugong » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:18 PM UTC

I'd argue that Occam's razor would state that this article is inaccurate rather than the plethora of sources about age and pre-existing conditions.

Re: Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus

#18

Post by Afton » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:19 PM UTC

I don't think that's it at all. It's the 'normal' person being concerned whether they are at risk.

While lots of people 'know old people' or with pre-existing conditions, many people have youngish parent with already passed grandparents, who have trouble understanding why this is a fuss for them, since they imagine that it'll just be a cold (for them). Cases like this one are 'scary' because it shows that they might still be at risk. Which, in some sense, is good if it makes 'normal people' scared enough to actually stay home/self-quarantine.

I really don't think this has anything to do with the "US-centric mindset of blaming people for their own [snipped]".

Re: Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus

#19

Post by Frost1x » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:19 PM UTC

No known pre-existing conditions.

The body is a large and extremely marvelous yet complex piece of machinery, even with self-repairing mechanisms.

Everyone is at risk even if they're healthy, it's just that the risk rates vary and for some groups are incredibly low based on the data. Knowing your risk rate is nearly impossible, but you can try to estimate based on how it effects larger subgroups of the population. That doesn't mean you're not at risk, it just means you're less likely at risk or were not measuring a risk factor you happen to be highly susceptible to.

Even run of the mill drugs have rare reactions that can lead to death. Across a large enough population and enough time, those rare reactions will occur. New unknown and unpredicted issues may even manifest.

People like to think in absolutes: I will die from this or I'm immune to this. Most of life isnt discrete (at least at our scale) and falls in some continuum between extremes.

Re: Twenty-one year old with no pre-existing conditions dies from Coronavirus

#20

Post by zdragnar » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:19 PM UTC

The answer being sought is just how deadly is this virus? Knowing that helps everyone plan, and thus far, mortality rates haven't been very high at all except in very vulnerable populations.

However, should the virus mutate, or otherwise start posing a larger problem to the general public, the calculus of just how under-prepared are we radically changes.

It has nothing to do with blame and everything to do with dealing with the reality of the pandemic. Are we facing an extremely contagious flu, or are we facing an extremely contagious 1918 / Spanish flu? There is a pretty serious difference between the two in terms of preparedness needed.