Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

[haxxiy]

Lafiel said:

haxxiy said:
A study from the Columbia University estimate 86% of cases are asymptomatic, but they are driving two thirds of the new infections.

I think the emerging consensus is that the concern is not exactly "how lethal this is to me" but "how lethal this is to the healthcare system". Nowadays, we have 35 times more people over 60 and 65 times more people over 80 compared to the Spanish Flu, but ICU beds tend to operate at optimal capacities in most places and would be filled already by a flu season that is worse than average.

the lethal 2nd wave in the 1918 H1N1 pandemic (which we should avoid calling the "Spanish Flu") afaik mainly killed people in their 20s-40s as it often caused a cytokine storm that is much more drastic in people with good immunesystems (and it is hypothised, that older ppl may have had some immunity from a 1889 pandemic), leading to 92% of it's victims apparently being below the age of 65 - todays older population might have been more resistant to it even without all the possibilities of modern medicine

I know. And nearly a hundred years later, the 2009 H1N1 strain had some of the same characteristics to a lesser degree. But they are the exceptions, not the rule. That is only one virus of all the respiratory pandemics we've seen. Nowadays, the average random person, except for the malnourished, has a far more fragile immune system than ever before.