There’s a lot we don’t know about Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Why it is so contagious, how to treat it, and whether it can be contained are some of the questions we want answered.
One fact is clear: the elderly are at the greatest risk of dying from the coronavirus. The Chinese CDC reported that only about 15% of coronavirus patients over the age of 80 have died from it.
“Age is an independent threat to death and, sadly, cannot be changed,” said Liangkai Chen PhD, of the study explaining how elderly patients respond to the virus. Chen is from the School of Public Health, Tongji College of Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, China; He and colleagues reported that elderly patients are more likely to develop a syndrome called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which causes severe breathing problems. Patients with ARDS were more likely to be older and have other diseases such as diabetes. , central disease, and kidney disease. They found that patients who develop ARDS were also more likely to die from the coronavirus.
However, even among elderly patients who do not appear to contract a severe case of coronavirus, and do not spread ARDS, their death threat remains high. During the outbreak in Wuhan, China, a dialysis center reported 7 deaths, adding 6 COVID-19 However, none of those patients died of pneumonia. The suspected reasons for death were other fitness problems, adding medium disease and cerebrovascular disease. Care units.
In a report examining 1590 laboratory-confirmed hospitalized patients in China with COVID-19 from November 21, 2019 to January 31, 2020, a quarter had comorbidities, such as high blood pressure, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, hepatitis B infections, lung disease, and others. Patients with COVID-19 and comorbidities had worse outcomes.
“There would possibly be great evolutionary merit for other young people to have higher degrees of ‘immune tolerance’ to viruses, meaning they would possibly get mildly ill, but their immune systems don’t go into overdrive mode by looking at them,” Ellie Carmody shared. MD MPH, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, NYU Lanpassne Health. Carmody called this the “Goldilocks phenomenon,” where in other young people, the immune reaction is “correct,” while in other older people, it’s dysregulated and too strong or too weak.
Another thing is the public health reaction to older adults with poor physical condition. “Older people are a vulnerable urban population and are subject to physical care and clinical resources. In the frontline epidemic area, medical resources were relatively inadequate due to the dramatic increase in the number of inflamed patients at the beginning of the epidemic,” said Dr. Chen.
For those reasons, experts proposed competitive precautions for the elderly. Dr. Abraar Karan pleaded with healthy infants, children, and young adults to stay home, as they are unlikely to need hospital care; Visiting the emergency room would unnecessarily divulge other, more vulnerable people. The CDC’s March 3 telebriefing update that others 65 and older “think about steps they can take to decrease their exposure. “One example is social distancing, which is restricting face-to-face touch to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in communities.
“I am relieved to see that the data so far shows that this virus would not be especially harmful to children. At the same time, I am concerned that our seniors will enjoy their loved ones,” said Nava Bak MD, an emergency physician at Hackensack Meridian Health. and a mother. ” It is vital to empower our young people to be physical activity ambassadors for the network as a whole. By stepping up their efforts in smart hand hygiene and cough covering, they can prevent the spread of this virus.
And don’t call grandma.
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