Tennis and golf are probably low risk activities (outdoors, can easily maintain distance from others). Having drinks and dinners inside of restaurants or clubs is probably a high risk activity (indoors, close proximity, cannot wear mask while drinking or eating).
Honestly, @UCBalumnus I had that malaise and fatigue, for me I fought through it, I started with outdoor walks, then running until I was back up to a couple of miles a day. Same with my wife. It can overwhelm you if you don’t fight it off, I would encourage people to get outside as soon as they can and exercise, its proven to help otherwise you get stuck in a downward long term cycle.
@CU123 my mother and her fellow assisted living residents have trouble walking. Good for you for “fighting it off.” Any tips for the elderly who are dying off in large numbers?
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@CU123
You wrote: “I would be much more concerned if I had comorbidities (obesity/diabeties/asthma/etc) or I was over 70, but my wife (over 60) and I managed to take care of ourselves,” and " It can overwhelm you if you don’t fight it off, I would encourage people to get outside as soon as they can and exercise"
Covid doesn’t care how much you “fight it off.” Do you honestly think that young athletes aren’t trying to fight it off? Or they hadn’t been taking care of themselves? Do you think that health care workers and EMTS aren’t fighting it off? Do you think the hospital is full of people who aren’t trying hard enough?
The thing is, with this disease it is a crap shoot. Most get off easy. Some don’t. Some die. And some that thought they got off easy find that they are stuck with long term effects.
My daughter was a super active, healthy eating, 24 year old. Operative word WAS. She had Covid but did not need to be hospitalized. But now for 10 months it hurts to breath every single day, sometimes to the point of tears.
I am so angry that you make it sound like she somehow failed to try hard enough to recover and only people with comorbidities need to be careful.
You and your spouse were lucky and I am happy for you. But never ever blame the people who are not ok for what this disease does to them.
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Amen - thank you for putting it so well. You can’t tell me my lad’s GF’s family member who is currently on a ventilator at 31 after likely catching it on his EMT job wasn’t fighting hard enough or didn’t take care of himself. Cripes, he was trying to help others - probably some who didn’t give a hoot about their behavior because they believe they’ll be fine.
With Covid it’s 100% luck of the draw as to how one’s body deals with it if they catch it. Many will do fine, but for those who don’t, no, it isn’t their fault. When doctors can do tests and find heart, lung, brain, kidney, and whatever else abnormalities even among many who didn’t have to be hospitalized - no - that’s not a problem fixed by “just fight through it.”
The things people want to believe… vs facts.
I’m happy my son is feeling better. I think he was lucky - I don’t think he fought it off. He was definitely worried for a few days there.
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My mom passed away, at 94. Didn’t test for covid but I can assure you she died because of it.
Truth is… if you’re young, with something treatable, a hospital isn’t a scary place. You’ll likely walk out, staph infection be damned. Get old enough, the longer you stay, the less likely you’ll ever leave. Old people need an advocate keeping tabs on the care and covid rules have resulted in them being mowed down like wheat.
Put my mother in one column, the ‘long-haul’ patients in the other, do a little summing, and get back to me.
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Not to get too off COVID topic here, but my experience is that everyone needs an advocate every day that they are hospitalized. (H has had major surgery several times in the last 10 years for a rare condition. World famous hospital. He needs another operation but we won’t do it until I can be in the room at least 16 hours/day. A sedated patient can’t advocate for themselves.)
Rant over
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I agree! Hiring an advocate was the best thing my dad could have done. She is so amazing. My parents lost power early this afternoon. She was worried about them and offered to go to their house to check on them, even though driving conditions in Austin are bad (it snowed!). Fortunately, the power came back on, but it’s so reassuring that my sister has someone backing her up. We are positive she is partially responsible for my dad’s remarkable recovery last year. She never gave up on him, when his doctors seemed to.
My dad was also in a supposedly outstanding hospital, and his care was pretty bad. 
I agree, ANYTIME someone is hospitalized, they need someone there as close to 24/7 as possible.
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I am terrified because I just read that the CDC has people with type 1 diabetes as lower priority than those with type 2 (type twos are 1c). My 30 year-old kid has type 1 and we have been assuming she would have a higher priority than she has.
She has been isolating in a studio apartment 3,000 miles away since last March.
Type 1 is a severe form suffered by 5% of people with diabetes. It is an autoimmune disorder, so the immune system doesn’t work properly. Illness can triple blood sugars for type 1’s, and make control impossible. Furthermore, high blood sugars feed viruses and bacteria.
As for having an advocate in the hospital: even an ICU in one of the top hospitals in the country had no idea how to properly manage her blood sugars. They run type 1’s high because they are afraid of lows. Noone knows how to operate a pump so they put patients on IV insulin and sugar which makes for chaos.
I have always accompanied my kid in the hospital because it requires 24/7 attention. Changes in insulln and dosing requires an MD order for nurses to do it. So I manage her. With COVID, who is going to do that?
I am posting this in Inside Medicine as well. I am calling JDRF, contacting the CDC, doing anything I can to put type 1’s in the proper category for vaccine. Please, if anyone reading this is in a position to advocate, do so.
Type 1’s should also get remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies if they get sick- immediately. (As should we all…)
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@catahoula, I am so sorry about your mom.
I said fighting off the fatigue and malaise that occurs afterward, but again I am speaking from my own, direct, experience with COVID.
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And that’s the problem, your experience is not everyone’s. You think you did something special that helped you when in reality it was luck of the draw. You ended up on the majority side. A fair number do not. Then some draw really bad straws like the 31 year old on a ventilator. Statistically a 31 year old shouldn’t have such major problems, and yet, there he is. If he survives he still won’t get back to normal quickly I expect. Why does he get the bad straw when some 100+ folks are asymptomatic or get over it quickly? As of yet, no one knows.
Thankfulness for being with the majority and compassion for those who aren’t - knowing there is absolutely nothing one can do to pick their side if they get it - is what I expect from people. That and the common sense of wearing masks/social distancing when in public to try to help others knowing some out there will draw short straws.
The best comparison I’ve seen is to drunk driving. Many people who drive tipsy or drunk make it to their destination just fine. Some of those will even tell you they’re a good enough driver to do so because they’ve done it and succeeded over and over again. But really, it’s just luck of the draw if a driver is impaired. Then when there is an accident, no one knows how anyone involved will fare. For some, it won’t be good. The best way to help others is not to drive when impaired.
The hard thing with Covid is some are infected without knowing it. One can’t wait until they have symptoms to decide to take precautions in order to help others.
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@compmom want to say that I agree with you 1000%! Pretty crappy! Type 1 diabetics cannot control that they have this disease and they can’t control it except with insulin. Many type 1 diabetics have many problems controlling their insulin levels even when they do everything right. And when sick, it makes their health even more fragile.
My husband told me today that he is in group 1B. Not because he has an autoimmune disease but because he is in an essential business.
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@Creekland not sure the comparison with drunk driving holds up since there is some agency in choosing to drive drunk.
Regarding diabetes, apparently the link to obesity for type 2 is part of the picture.
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Sure I understand some will suffer catastrophic circumstances as it is with most diseases. I would also point out that what I mean by fighting off is akin to going to physical therapy after an injury. Once your immune system has fought off COVID you still have damage to your body and and you need to help the healing process through physical therapy, in most cases that will mean exercise. Anyone who has done physical therapy (and medical pros) will tell you its vital to a full recovery.
@compmom - just as one has 100% of a choice whether they will wear a mask and social distance or not.
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@CU123 Anyone who has read up on Covid knows that suggesting people exercise before getting checked out is giving bad advice. Heart damage and lung damage has been seen in hospital tests and in some cases, it didn’t even matter if the person was asymptomatic or not. One article I read from a Scuba diving doctor said no one should dive if they’ve had Covid without having their lungs checked first. From what he’s seen there is considerable damage that could make it deadly.
Many people probably let these reports go by without looking at them, but having had a long haul son, I read every one I come across (most from Europe). Your advice could kill someone if they took it literally and had damage. The key to fixing some things is exercise, but not necessarily Covid. It’s too new yet to know. Doctor advice for my guy was to get rest and take it slow. If it feels like too much, stop.
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@Creekland your comparison related to severity of illness, not getting it. Mask and social distancing have not proven to affect severity of illness.
As a side note, many people with dementia, like my mother, are not capable of wearing a mask properly and don’t even understand the reason for it.
I am not talking about SCUBA diving where there are a host of other issues/dangers with breathing pressurized air underwater (especially having had a respiratory disease). No report I have ever heard of has people dying from PT. The first time I ran a couple of miles shortly after recovering from COVID I had to take a 3 hour nap, but at no time would I push myself to further injury. Your’e taking extreme views of everything, for the majority of COVID survivors getting back on your feet as soon as you can is the best medical advice, ask your doctor.