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

#41

Post by jamesrcole » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:31 PM UTC

sonicggg wrote: post #26

It seems that anecdotal evidence of young people dying of COVID-19 is the trend of the moment. Not sure if it's just cheap clickbait or the goal is to make younger generations to actually care about social distancing. The deal is that we are dealing with the power of large numbers. You can cherry-pick whatever case you want to fit your narrative. It does not mean its relevant information.

Handfuls of cases are enough to discredit the belief (perhaps not common on HN, but common in many other places) that young people can’t get seriously ill or die from it.

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

#42

Post by smarri » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:31 PM UTC

sonicggg wrote: post #26

It seems that anecdotal evidence of young people dying of COVID-19 is the trend of the moment. Not sure if it's just cheap clickbait or the goal is to make younger generations to actually care about social distancing. The deal is that we are dealing with the power of large numbers. You can cherry-pick whatever case you want to fit your narrative. It does not mean its relevant information.

Alternatively it could be a material and relevant fact.

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

#43

Post by jamesrcole » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:32 PM UTC

evbpcapfxy wrote: post #31

Some quick googling also shows that young people without pre-existing conditions can die from the regular flu. https://time.com/5099042/influenza-deaths-flu/

But I don’t think people have been hammered with the view that flu can only kill older people. Whereas they have been for covid-19.

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

#44

Post by klyrs » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:33 PM UTC

dreary_dugong wrote: post #17

sjg007 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Occam's razor: what you've heard is simply incorrect.

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.

I'd argue that this is a single datapoint out of nearly 20k deaths. Are the odds of dying young with zero pre-existing conditions on the order of 1:20k, or exactly zero? Is death from covid rare or impossible?

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

#45

Post by throwanem » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:33 PM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #36

throwanem wrote: post #30

It's easy to find an article like this very frightening, if you're young and healthy and have been thinking there's thus no chance you'll die of COVID-19 if (more likely when, tbh) you get it. I already have it, so I totally understand that. But this is the first time we know of that anyone young and healthy has died of the disease, and we're over a hundred thousand confirmed cases in. Even assuming the current under…

A 13 year old died in Panama on Monday, but again, no confirmation on her health from a doctor. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/panama-13-year-girl-c...

One in fifty thousand is still damn good odds.

I'm sure there will be more such cases. As other folks here are pointing out, sometimes that's just how it goes, even for somebody who "should" be in no danger. Sometimes 20-year-olds die of the flu.

But you still don't help yourself by getting into a tailspin over it. If you're sick, that just depletes your energy and makes it harder to take care of yourself so you can get better. If you're not, the same stress weakens your immune system and makes it harder to stay well.

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

#46

Post by corpMaverick » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:34 PM UTC

spyspy wrote: post #32

sonicggg wrote: post #26

It seems that anecdotal evidence of young people dying of COVID-19 is the trend of the moment. Not sure if it's just cheap clickbait or the goal is to make younger generations to actually care about social distancing. The deal is that we are dealing with the power of large numbers. You can cherry-pick whatever case you want to fit your narrative. It does not mean its relevant information.

Anecdotally, my parents keep bringing up this narrative every time we talk on the phone. I've reminded them that while me and my fiance dutifully haven't left the house since last Sunday they've happily gone to the grocery store multiple times, attended a funeral, and had wine at their neighbor's house. They also refused to stop babysitting my niece and nephew until I called my brother and convinced him to stop dropp…

As a parent of a young man. I understand why your parents have these fears. They know what they are doing, but they don´t know what you are doing other than what you tell them. Even if they trust you, this is a deeper fear. You could start lecturing your parents about how dangerous this is, so they are convinced that you are taking it seriously.

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

#47

Post by jamesrcole » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:36 PM UTC

throwanem wrote: post #30

It's easy to find an article like this very frightening, if you're young and healthy and have been thinking there's thus no chance you'll die of COVID-19 if (more likely when, tbh) you get it. I already have it, so I totally understand that. But this is the first time we know of that anyone young and healthy has died of the disease, and we're over a hundred thousand confirmed cases in. Even assuming the current under…

> this is the first time we know of that anyone young and healthy has died of the disease

It may be the first one that’s been in the news here, but what about in China? I’m wondering if there have been any cases there, that haven't been officially reported in the news.

The whistleblower doctor who died was only 34. I don't know if he had any prexisting conditions. https://nypost.com/2020/02/09/coronavirus-doctor-li-wenliang...

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

#48

Post by dahart » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:36 PM UTC

sonicggg wrote: post #26

It seems that anecdotal evidence of young people dying of COVID-19 is the trend of the moment. Not sure if it's just cheap clickbait or the goal is to make younger generations to actually care about social distancing. The deal is that we are dealing with the power of large numbers. You can cherry-pick whatever case you want to fit your narrative. It does not mean its relevant information.

It is relevant information when the previous narrative was that 0 young people had died of COVID, and that the “only” old people who had died had co-morbidity factors.

BTW, this isn’t “anecdotal evidence”. This is an actual, verifiable data point.

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

#49

Post by CathedralBorrow » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:37 PM UTC

sonicggg wrote: post #26

It seems that anecdotal evidence of young people dying of COVID-19 is the trend of the moment. Not sure if it's just cheap clickbait or the goal is to make younger generations to actually care about social distancing. The deal is that we are dealing with the power of large numbers. You can cherry-pick whatever case you want to fit your narrative. It does not mean its relevant information.

If anecdotes like these succeed in making people take the problem seriously, was it still irrelevant information?

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

#50

Post by sunseb » Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 2:37 PM UTC

It seems the Spanish flu first targeted old people, and almost disappeared during summer, before returning during fall and targeting young people. I hope it won't be like that this time.