Who are at higher risk for coronavirus infections?

Currently in the United States, almost everyone is affected in some way by the stress and anxiety caused by the new coronavirus epidemic, the termination of activity or the disease itself.

What is worrying is that the disease could be fatal and the outbreak in the United States could continue to worsen.

Scientists and doctors still don't know much about new coronaviruses and the diseases they cause. However, based on three-month data, it appears that 80% of infected people are mild or moderate patients, about 15% have a serious illness (requires hospitalization), and about 5% are critically ill (entering the respiratory tract or organ Failure).

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 3% of confirmed cases of infection in China have died.

However, some of these populations may face a higher risk of serious infections:

Seniors: According to data collected by the World Health Organization, people over the age of 60 are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 infection. The highest mortality rate is among people over 80 years of age.

According to an analysis of data from a group of Chinese patients, approximately 15% of this age group died of the disease. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that older people stay away from the crowd and avoid unnecessary travel.

Children: On the other hand, children are relatively less likely to be infected with the new coronavirus, and only a small proportion of children are severely infected with the new coronavirus pneumonia.

In China, there have been no reports of child deaths from the new coronavirus pneumonia.

Researchers are still trying to figure out why. It may be that the child's lungs are less susceptible to infection or the immune system is stronger.

However, children may carry the virus and spread it to each other before passing it on to parents and caregivers. This is one of the reasons for school suspension in virus-borne areas.

People with chronic diseases: People with underlying health conditions (such as high blood pressure, kidney disease, cancer or diabetes) are also more likely to suffer from severe illness or death from COVID-19.

For example, approximately 9% of patients with viral infection die and approximately 8% of patients with hypertension die. The CDC also recommends that these groups avoid avoiding crowded places and stock up medicines based on their situation.

Everyone else: Most people who are young or healthy and infected with the virus do not develop severe illness. However, if infected with the virus, people may be exposed to people at greater risk, even if they are asymptomatic, and spread the virus to them.

Minimizing the number of infections per patient is the best way to slow the spread of diseases like COVID-19.

This is the goal of policies such as class suspensions and cancellations, which is why home isolation is so important.