James Veverka: Consequences of taking COVID-19 too lightly will last lifetimes

To The Daily Sun,

Anthony Campo recently wrote that COVID-19 "almost NEVER kills healthy people under 50" (his caps). And he has done his research for his "entrenched" view. Breitbart? Fox? Dr. Phil? Although fatality rates rise with age and underlying conditions, 5.5 percent of the fatalities are under 50 in the U.S. That is 3,410 deaths (most of them in the last five weeks), not NEVER, of the 62,000 U.S. deaths so far.

According to the CDC, 38 percent of cases requiring hospitalization were 20 to 54 years of age. Hospitalization means the person is in danger, maybe grave danger. Although a person may have survived COVID-19 caused pneumonia, the damage to lung tissue is worse than that of SARS and MERS and can be permanent. The tiny balloon-like sacs called Alveoli that inflate and take in oxygen to capillaries for transportation in a healthy person, become scarred and useless after lesions develop. This can lead to a permanent condition of being short of breath with exertion if the damage is extensive enough. Long-term studies of SARS patients have shown that roughly a third of people who recovered from severe bouts were left with permanent lung damage. With SARS and MERS Coronaviruses, the diseases usually settled into one lung but with COVID-19, the disease usually attacks both lungs right away. Without the stay at home orders and closings, hundreds of thousands of American citizens could have died or could have permanent lung damage by now.

Downplaying the deadly realities of COV-19 will lead to more deaths. Infected but asymptomatic people will infect others, young and old, killing some, damaging others. Opening up the economy too quickly will bring more fatalities, possibly a second wave which could be worse. The horrific second wave of the 1918 Pandemic dwarfed the first and third waves. The CDC is already warning us about a second wave hitting us just as the next flu season (hits. https://www.livescience.com/covid-19-second-wave-flu-season.html).

Going back to the economic and social realities before COVID-19 without mass testing and developing a vaccine is just plain (expletive) stupid. We will recover eventually and will come back roaring as we always do. Everything is about to change in health care, education, supply chains, criminal justice, the military, and the social safety net. Teddy Roosevelt believed universal health care was a national security issue. He couldn't be more right.

James Veverka

Tilton