I don't really think that's the case -- i doubt a significant portion of the pop believes that it's impossible for them to die/get hospitalized from corona. The risk becomes very very low the younger you get, but doesn't go away.
That said, I think the media/Politicians have done a shitty job of explaining who is at risk here and what that risk is. It's not nonexistent for anyone, but for a significant portion of the population, I think the risk is low enough that it's hardly worth considering, imo (at least for one's own health).
that's fair. I don't think people realize there's a not-insignificant number of young people currently going to the ICU.
Also a better way to look at the data that doctor was trying to share is hospitalization rates - about 2.5% of 19-44 year olds are hospitalized if they get it per the CDC. At least using data from March, it would be great if that was updated.
I don't know how that compares to other regular infectious diseases, but a 3% chance of going to the hospital if I got it would make me rethink behavior.
Yeah it's frustrating that the range 19-44 is used. 19 year olds are far less likely to have serious complications than are 44 year olds.
As of the week ending 5/16:
76 15-24 year olds had died of CV.
463 25-34 year olds had died of CV.
1186 35-44 year olds had died of CV.
3293 45-54
8311 55-64
14,447 65-74
18,621 75-84
22,542 85 or older
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#AgeAndSexThose are death counts, but I imagine the hospitalized counts would mostly follow the same correlation (though less drastic).
I think the thing that could have prevented the most deaths (aside from nailing the spread itself in January-March) would be to focus the bulk of our attention to protecting seniors (>65), who have accounted for roughly 80 percent of the deaths listed in that linked (and slightly outdated) CDC chart.
