How does this pass the sniff test (or am I misinterpreting it?).

Assume 1% fatality rate for infections (it’s actually lower), you’re saying somewhere 19% to 60% (depending on overlap of those categories) have permanent damage?

That’s clearly not what we’re seeing.

You're misinterpreting it. It says that for every 1 fatality there are 19 covid patients that have longlasting complications. It doesn't state though how many mild, uncomplicated cases there will be for every 1 hospitalized, i.e. what the denominator is. For example, if there are 1000 cases for every hospitalized case, then 19/1000 isn't that high.

I’m still confused. We know the fatality rate is ~1% (0.6% as per CDC’s latest).

So for every death there are 99 other cases. There is no way that 19 of those have permanent disabilities. That would means several million Americans are seriously disabled by the virus.

The Quora link cites sources if you doubt the math.

They are funky. The source of the “19% had heart damage” is 19% of those hospitalized.

We know that approximately 10-20% of all cases are hospitalized. So that 19% is actually 2-4% (19% of 10-20%).

> How does this pass the sniff test (or am I misinterpreting it?).

Article links to sources. Interpret as you will.

Just a counter-'claim' against the GP that all we have to worry about is the fatality rate.

As hospitals fill up, even with a low mortality rate, it means all sorts of other procedures are delayed or cancelled.

>18 of those will have permanent heart damage for the rest of their lives.

Adding critical context: Nearly half of americans are obese and/or have heart disease, and ~650,000 are killed by it each year.

How much lower would all those numbers be if americans simply exercised and ate healthy on a regular basis?

This is the point that so many people miss.

We’re also 1/3 of the way to WWII deaths in the US.