I’m sure everybody is aware by this point, that pretty much anybody is potentially subject to infection with the COVID-19 virus.
Considering that famous people who’re generally proponents of wearing masks, social distancing and other measures, as well as those who aren’t, have now contracted the disease regardless that fact—and frankly, probably in more or less equal numbers, I would hope that people are beginning to also come to recognize by now, that these measures are anything but the be-all-end-all protections many would have you believe.
Are they beneficial? I honestly question whether there’s any way to answer that.
Since most people have adopted them, I think it’s fair to say we only see the results largely when they’re in play. Because that’s true, the only thing we have to compare things to, is how other countries have done business. That’s not necessarily a reasonable thing, since populations and the density of people make a large difference.
Inasmuch as it’s possible to tell, it seems that not masking or being horribly beholden to concepts like social distancing and sheltering in place, leaves folks in much the same place as having done so.
Another consideration is, that even if the places that refused such measures look worse off in the short term, we’ve yet to see what the long term has to say about things.
Put another way, we may see there were more deaths than expected over the first few months of the pandemic, but that they tapered off—possibly even drastically—as time went on in those states where precautions have not been stringently observed.
Obviously, it’s possible the converse may be true as well; that places where the numbers were initially low, potentially due to the residents following various mandates, continue to rack up higher numbers as time goes on.
But what I wanted to discuss in this article, is something I don’t tend to see considered a great deal. Fairly, I’m not sure what I’ve said to this point has been well talked about, based on the various reports and information I’ve seen up to now, either.
The idea I wanted to consider is that, where individuals with comorbidities seem to be more seriously affected by COVID-19, I don’t think it reasonable to assume the numbers even among people with other illnesses and conditions, is necessarily all that high.
That’s not to say that those with other health conditions shouldn’t take care to keep from being exposed where possible.
That taken into account though, if you’re, let’s say, 25 and a Type 2 diabetic, I much doubt you’re at high risk of dying from, or being terribly ill affected by, COVID-19 even if you do manage to contract it.
Part of the reason that appears to be true, is the fact that in those fatalities in which COVID-19 was a factor, but wasn’t the lone factor (the vast majority where COVID-19 deaths are concerned), it was commonly true that the person infected had not one but two or more other issues to consider.
To be fair, since that was on average, it’s reasonable to argue that there would’ve been those who had but one, and those who had three or more, who passed away as a result.
Still, it’s apparently at least as good a chance they had two as anything else.
There are a couple of other considerations though, that must be taken into account at present. This is routinely the case.
One is that, regardless what type of disease, chances are good both fatality rates and serious byproduct conditions, can be be averted by taking certain actions.
So as time has gone on, we’ve come to that understanding, and acted in ways that’ve made the outbreak far less serious as we’ve moved along the timeline. Again, this is true for both people dying of the illness, and having adverse effects as a result of contracting it.
The other consideration is not as well supported, but based on the way things tend normally to work, I think it’s pretty likely.
That would be that, it appears the virus is becoming less effective in both infecting folks, and how it affects them, over time.
If you look at how viral outbreaks often progress, where I can’t say this is always how things work by any means, you’ll see that in many instances, this is more or less exactly how they play out.
And it appears that may be how they’re working for COVID-19.
All of this is, in my mind and I hope in yours, good news. To me, none of it is surprising.
Because, I’ve been prone to make it my business to keep up on the numbers, I’ve witnessed a good sized jump, an initial downward trend, followed by a less severe spike when places began to reopen. This appears to be subsiding yet again.
The last good number from the Centers for Disease Control, is likely from around the week ending on the 12th of September, 2020, when the number of fatalities dropped to 3,495 for the entire country.
From everything I’m seeing, that number appears to be continuing to fall. The caveat being that the CDC is often a couple of weeks behind in its number crunching.
I saw a quick and dirty summation of the percentages at all age levels recently. It indicated that the greatest number of deaths on a percentage basis, was somewhere around five percent. That was for folks over the age of 75 who have been infected, as far as I can tell. That number is very low.
I’m not suggesting that such people dance in the streets without taking precautions of any kind. That said, I’m not considering the risk to be particularly high for them, either.
The obvious message appears to be clear, it is, “If you’re over 65, and particularly if you have certain conditions, you should make it your business to protect yourself from possible infection.”
Even if you’re infected though, it seems the ability to mitigate has become much more robust over the course of time. Put another way, “Consult medical professionals if you’re at risk for severe effects, or death.”
The point of this article was intended to be this. Even if you have one or more comorbidity, the chances appear to be exceptionally high, that you’ll not only not die from COVID-19, but that you’ll likely make a more or less complete recovery. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t protect yourself, just that the news surrounding contracting the illness is not particularly bad at this juncture.
Thanks for reading, and may your time be good.