I certainly agree but I am finding it difficult to find information on deaths of "older" people after eliminating those with previous ailments/conditions. Are perfectly healthy people over say the age of 65 more likely to die from the coronavirus than a healthy person in their 30s or 40s?
Originally Posted by SpeedRacerXXX
Back in mid-late March, I was talking to an old friend from high school about this very subject, as our "reunion committee" had been set to organize a big 70th birthday party for a couple of members of our class. It was expected that there would be 70-80 people (all our age) there in an indoor restaurant venue.
Commenting on the "wisdom" (or lack thereof) of going ahead with this, my friend, a recently retired doc (ER physician for some years, internal medicine family practice later) essentially said "no how, no way!" This was just before the shutdowns started.
We are both very fit 70-year-olds with no known health issues, and I asked him whether we would be significantly less likely to do OK than a healthy 35-50-year-old.
He said he believes the answer is clearly yes, because even the fittest and healthiest of us suffer a slow but steady immune system decline with aging.
Continuing, however, he said he thought that a 70+ individual with one of more of the following conditions would likely have a mortality risk several times higher than that of a healthy, fit 70-year-old. He did add, though, that research on this is in its very early stages, and far more will be known within three or four months.
1) Overweight
2) Diabetes
3) High blood pressure
4) History of smoking; possible COPD
Further, he did suggest that he'd take the chances of a healthy 70-year-old over those of an overweight, unfit 40-year-old suffering from hypertension, metabolic syndrome, or both.
So, at least there's that!
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