Covid-19, Non-Oldies, Lung Damage
This is pretty much breaking, from the NYPost--Coronavirus doctor says lung scans for young patients were ‘nothing short of terrifying’ . I've heard about this previously--that this disease causes permanent lung damage. People just don't seem to get it--THIS ISN'T THE FLU:
A Belgian doctor working to battle the coronavirus says he’s treated several seriously ill young patients — and their lung scans were “nothing short of terrifying,” according to reports.
Dr. Ignace Demeyer, who works at a hospital in Aalst, said an increasing number of people between the ages of 30 and 50 have presented with severe symptoms, despite having “blank medical records” that show no underlying conditions that would make them high-risk, the Brussels Times reported.
“They just walk in, but they are terribly affected by the virus,” Demeyer told the Belgian broadcaster VRT.
He said CT scans indicated they were suffering from severe lung damage.
“The images we took yesterday are nothing short of terrifying,” the doctor told the station.
“They are people who do not smoke, who have no other conditions such as diabetes or heart failure,” Demeyer added.
The part about non-smokers without diabetes or heart failure echoes something Michael Osterholm said in the long interview I linked to pretty much near the start of this. Osterholm acknowledged that the Chinese situation was aggravated by the high rate of smoking among Chinese men, but he pointed out that our high obesity rates--with attendant diabetes and cardiovascular problems--would produce similar problems for anyone contracting Covid-19.
ALSO BREAKING: It's being reported that a long term care facility in Willowbrook, IL (suburb of Chicago), has 18 patients testing positive, as well as 4 workers. One fatality at this point.