Coronavirus: carelessness endangers risk groups

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.

Younger people rarely get seriously ill with Covid-19 - that's why some of them hardly feel affected and take the outbreak lightly. This can be dangerous for them themselves - but especially for the elderly and risk groups.

"Even if it seldom happens: Even younger and healthy people can have severe courses, including even deaths," warned Vice President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lars Schaade, on Thursday. Above all, he appealed to the younger generation to show solidarity with people at risk.

Protect endangered persons

Those who prevent themselves from becoming infected not only do not get sick themselves, but also protect those for whom the risk of a severe course is significantly higher. This also applies if you don't have close contact with older people or other people who are at risk. People at risk include those with heart disease, diabetics, people with chronic lung diseases such as asthma, and people with weak immune systems.

The fact is: whether young or old - the more people become infected, the faster the virus spreads. And the greater the risk that many seniors and other vulnerable people will become infected and become seriously ill.

Do not underestimate the situation

In view of the comparatively low number of cases in Germany at the moment, many still underestimate the situation. In fact, the number of infections rose quite quickly in this country too, warns Schaade.

Experts point out that the elderly and other risk groups should take protective measures particularly seriously. Greater distance from loved ones can also protect. So grandchildren shouldn't visit their grandparents in times of epidemic - even if it's difficult.

Goal: press infection numbers

The aim of all measures is to reduce the number of infections so that the health system is not overloaded and people die because of poorer care. Especially if no decisive action is taken at the beginning of an epidemic, the situation quickly gets out of control, as the example of Italy shows.

The reason is that, according to the current state of knowledge, an infected person infects two to three people without protective measures. That means: Unchecked, a single patient with an average infection rate of 2.5 and an infection chain of ten steps can lead to almost 10,000 infected people.

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