Quote:
Originally Posted by LessinSF
I am not claiming what I was arguing is fact. I was extrapolating from the admittedly preliminary and unproven findings from the Kaiser study that article was based upon.
That said, nothing you say changes what I said. Age would increase risk because age increases the likelihood of having the suggested required pre-existing conditions. However, once the existence or non-existence of those conditions are known, age would become be a non-factor. Put another way, age is no longer a sine qua non. It is just an indicator of the likelihood of the existence of exacerbating influences, i.e. helpful toward diagnosis. But, if those influences are (or not) present, age should be irrelevant to prognosis (other than accounting for the fact that old people don't recover so well). Or, put it another way, age might be a concurrent cause, but not the proximate cause.
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Age is definitely a factor because the strength of the immune system declines over time. And
kids don't seem to be suffering from this at all.
HOWEVER, a strong immune system can also kill you. Some of the younger patients are undergoing what is called a cytokine storm, which is when the immune system goes into overdrive and doesn't stop. These patients do not have any underlying health conditions or indicia that they won't do well.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4711683/
In 1918, MOST of the people who died were young and healthy (including one of my great-grandfathers and one of my great-uncles), and researchers think they were taken out because of the cytokine storm. In Covid-19,
it seems to pop up in about 15 percent of the patients which is why there are so many stories of 35 year olds with no underlying health conditions not making it.
No one should be comfortable thinking that they're going to be fine if they get this thing.
