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by nyolfen 2310 days ago
significantly less deadly than sars but also significantly more contagious. sars was only contagious once you showed symptoms, which does not appear to be the case here. for covid, los alamos suggests a pre-intervention r0 of 4-6: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.07.20021154v...

the fatality rate increases with age, up to ~15% for >80. i don't know about you but i have older people in my family that i'm very concerned about.

1 comments

Yes I agree with you, I am concerned with the elderly & infants. As these are the demographics which usually have higher fatal outcome both in diseases, and even adverse effects from drugs/surgery.
Young children are surprisingly resilient against Coronavirus infections, their mortality is so low that it hardly figures in the stats (on an individual level it is still just as much a tragedy).
As the father of a newborn, grateful to hear this. Do you have a source?
I have kids too and wondered about this. Chinese CDC epidemiology study indicates that kids seemed to be spared from Covid-19 (See table 1) http://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/id/e53946e2-c6c4-41e9-9...

Age is very significant for mortality rate: 0-9: 0%, ..., 60-69: 3.6%, 70-79: 8.0%, 80+: 14.8%. Also the regional breakdown is apparently a useful approximation of what happens when the healthcare system is overwhelmed (Hubei 2.9%) vs not (other Chinese provinces 0.4%). Also 81% patients reported mild symptoms.

Even 'healthy' age people can get hit hard. One of the first people in Italy to be diagnosed with it is just now coming out of intensive care.

If those beds start to fill up... people that might otherwise be helped through the worst might be in trouble.

https://www.lastampa.it/cronaca/2020/02/27/news/coronavirus-...