No, I am pretty fit, routinely ride my mountain bike & road bike, rock climb, backpack, etc. I have no conditions. However, I'm absolutely petrified of getting the disease, as I have calculated it is about 10-20x more dangerous than the flu for my age group. And when I last had the flu about 20 years ago, I felt like I was going to die (it's the only time I've sought medical help for an illness), though I was probably not even close to dying .
Not only is it more dangerous, I think it's far from clear for the ~10-20% of people who end up with a serious case whether the recovery of lung function is complete and total. I would like my lungs to be 100%, thank you very much.
There's a significant number of people who become seriously ill, even without known co-morbidities (about 1/3 of the ~700 US deaths under age 50 match this pattern -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/08/young-people-coronavirus-deaths/). Medical professionals don't understand exactly why, as far as I know (it may be something genetic, but all speculative). Of course, people with these other conditions are at extremely high risk, but I'm at significant risk as well.
The other factor is that my wife is not as lucky as I am, and it's fairly likely that if I get the disease, she will get it as well, and it'll likely kill her.
If you have a household member who is at higher risk, that is a concern. I've mentioned a friend who is a store delivery truck driver in the SE US and he's freaked out about how cavalier everyone around him is. He's concerned because his mother is high risk and she lives with him part time.
There is some evidence coming out of China that people who do get a serious enough case to be hospitalized and recover often do have lung or heart damage. Heart disease is a factor because this disease can also put a load on the heart.
This is amazingly naive. If you are older meaning over 55 you are at elevated risk for a more severe manifestation. If you are male you are at elevated risk as well. So this easy Breezy weather forecast you're providing just doesn't square with the epidemiologic facts. Even younger people describe this often as a brutal experience. And a certain percentage of young people die even if they don't have so-called pre-existing conditions. So it's really a bit of Russian Roulette if you are casual and think that this is just the flu so you don't have to really worry if you contract it. The fact that your experience with it was relatively benign of course is not a basis for judgment. EDIT CORRECTION: you just quoted an experience somebody else was describing.
It's about like your risk of death in a severe car accident (let's say defined in this case as an accident where your car is totaled). Depending on the severity of accident it can be anywhere from 2 to 40%, with the analogy to death in this accident severity hinging on your age, your gender, and whether you have any known or unknown so-called pre-existing conditions). Do you regard severe car accidents as trivial also? Would you advise anybody to sort of no-sweat-easy-breezy through the risk of an accident in which their car was totaled? Because that's kind of what you're saying about covid-19.
I'm over 50, male, I have mild asthma, and I've almost certainly had it. I didn't know I had it until I was over it and my SO got it the next day. She had symptoms of a mild chest cold for about 4 days. She's older than I am.
I can't get tested for the antibodies yet, but I'm on a waiting list. When I first started getting it, I lost my sense of smell with no sinus stuff going on. Something that never happened before. I had a sort of mild asthma attack that last 10-14 days and some oddly elevated heart rate.
If you worry about everything that could kill you, you could make it a full time thing. An asteroid could hit the Earth tomorrow. I live near three volcanoes that could erupt at any time, one blew its top in 1980. There is a major subduction zone just off the coast that can create big earthquakes. Someone could go crazy and start shooting at the supermarket next time I go there.
I weigh my odds of things and dial back worry about low risk things. I'm at an age where a lot of men get heart attacks, but there is no history of heart disease on either side of my family and I take reasonably good care of myself. I monitor my health and watch for abnormalities, but I don't lie awake at night worrying that I'm going to die of a heart attack.
If I had any risk factors beyond gender and chronological age and I wasn't 90% sure I had already had it, I would be concerned about COVID-19. For some people it's a serious risk, but the data from all over the world shows that about 80% of the population don't have any serious complications with it.
According to the CDC data, 12% of patients were hospitalized. Of that 12%: 17% were 55-64, 18% were 45-54, and 20% were 20-44.
Of all cases (hospitalized and not), the percentage of those hospitalized in age groups are:
20-44 - 2.4%
45-54 - 2.16%
55-64 - 2.04%
Data drawn from here:
Severe Outcomes Among Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19
This discusses risk factors, but does not discuss the percentage of people hospitalized with no known risk factors. It's not zero, but it's definitely less than 2%. Most likely much lower than 2%.
People in a high risk age group and/or with other risk factors should be concerned. Very concerned. You're risk is far higher than 2% if you get it. Those of us at low risk should not be taking risks because most of us have friends and family who are higher risk and we need to take precautions to make sure we don't give it to them because even if you have no symptoms, you can be contagious.
But there is a difference about being mortally scared you're going to get something when you are in a low risk group and being careful about the health of those around you who are in a much higher risk group. Spending time spinning your wheels over low risk possibilities is wasting energy that can go into something more constructive.
