Who is at high risk for serious illness with COVID?
Anyone who is advanced in age (65+ years old), certain minority groups (African Americans & Hispanics), and those with existing medical complications are more likely to experience worse symptoms with COVID. Did you know the majority of patients being admitted to ICUs in America are Hispanics and African Americans? The other common denominators in hospital admissions are obesity and high blood pressure. Yes, certain patient populations are more likely to have poor outcomes with COVID, but is it their genetics or underlying medical conditions? Should a healthy Hispanic be concerned? I wish I could give you this answer, but this still remains an unknown.
The scary truth here is most patients who require a ventilator for respiratory support, are not coming off the vent. The following % is not researched-based, it is from my own experiences and what the ICU nurses at a North Carolina hospital estimate. In the opinion of ICU nurses in NC, we agree that approximately 10% of patients who go on the ventilator actually come off the ventilator. YIKES! That is a 90% chance of death once you are put on a ventilator in the ICU. This is not to scare anyone or sway your decision, but to give you facts.
Medical Conditions Linked to Poor COVID Outcomes
What current health conditions will not only increase, but almost guarantee you will have a poor outcome with COVID? Just an FYI, the same medical conditions causing an increased risk with COVID are not the same that increase your risk for the vaccine side effects. Most of the ICU admissions requiring ventilators are overweight African American and Hispanic minorities with high blood pressure. If you are a diabetic who does not keep their blood sugar under control, you are also high risk.
How do you know if you are obese? I am not talking about the 5-10 vanity pounds we all struggle with, but these patients are 50, 100, 200 pounds, or more over their ideal weight. If you are an overweight minority with high blood pressure, you must weigh the risks vs the benefits. If you get the virus, you may not survive. If you get the vaccine, you may experience uncomfortable side effects, but you statistically survive.
Of course, these are not the only co-existing conditions to consider. Another one of importance when considering the vaccine vs naturally battling COVID are autoimmune disorders, diabetes, cancer, and even rheumatoid arthritis, etc. Are you taking any medications that suppress your immune system? There is not enough research for how immunosuppressant medications interact with vaccine recipients to know its effects, but we do know that a suppressed immune system could lead to critical illness and potentially death if COVID is introduced.
What are immunosuppressants? We are all familiar with chemo agents and radiation, but there are many others. I listed rheumatoid arthritis because some people may be taking the medications prescribed by their provider without realizing the strong negative impact it takes on your immune response. For example, methotrexate, cyclophosphamide, and chlorambucil for starters. Again, if you do not know, ask your primary care provider if you are on any of these medications or do your own homework and ask google?.
In a future blog post that I will link here later, I will give you tips and tools to prevent hospital admission and keep your lungs healthy from my own day-to-day COVID treatment when I had the virus. I believe the key is to prevent and stay on top of things if you get sick. Once COVID takes hold of your lungs, it seems to spiral out of control. Prevent, don’t treat!
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