Heavily mutated coronavirus variant puts scientists on alert

Re:Heavily mutated coronavirus variant puts scientists on alert by dekhn on Thursday November 25, 2021 @07:11PM (#29346288)

Let's look back at those deaths in about 10 years. I predict that over time, epidemiologists will have much better estimates on who died of what and when and what the risk factors for death are. From what I can tell, much of the deaths are front-loaded (IE, we saw them over a few years instead of decades), and concentrated in people who had comordibities.

People evolved to respond to the flu over millenia before there was widespread travel. I think that explains much of the dynamics of covid.

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Re:Heavily mutated coronavirus variant puts scientists on alert by jacquesm on Thursday November 25, 2021 @07:34PM (#29346445)

We've been working hard as society to allow people to continue to live with chronic disease. Co-morbidities is just another way of saying 'they would have died sooner or later anyway', but for all of these cases you are looking at individuals and people that have family and dependents. In the long term all deaths are 'front-loaded'. Every person that dies of traffic, obesity, terrorism, disease, famine and so on would have eventually died anyway from some other cause. That doesn't stop us from trying to address these causes of death resulting in people living longer. We don't call those who live to an older age with diabetes 'time stealers' any more than we should call people that die early of COVID+some other factor 'front loaded'.

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Re:Heavily mutated coronavirus variant puts scientists on alert by cortesoft on Saturday November 27, 2021 @02:42PM (#29362761)

I really hate this argument (that people who die of Covid would have died soon anyway). Everyone will die eventually, so let's not treat any disease? Let's withhold all medical care from people over 80... almost all of them will be dead in 10 years, why treat them?

A premature death is a premature death, no matter how many years it cuts off.

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