NO UNDERLYING ILLNESSES IN 35% OF COVID-19 DEATHS

MBABANE – The assumption that people without comorbidities have zero chances of dying from COVID-19 is very wrong. 

This is because between December 21, 2020 and January 10, 2021 there were 155 people who died from COVID-19-related illnesses and 55 of those had no comorbidities. The figure represents 35 per cent of deaths without comorbidities in the last three weeks.

 The trend with local COVID-19 cases suggests that the case fatality rate for persons without comorbidities is higher in the country and fatal outcomes are three times more likely in a scale of 10. 

It is worth mentioning that the three-week period utilised as a case study to inform the figures constitutes the period where the number of new COVID-19 cases and related deaths surged alarmingly, marking the commencement of the second wave. 

In medicine, comorbidity is the presence of one or more additional conditions often co-occurring with a primary condition. 

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the elderly, a vulnerable population, with chronic health conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular or lung disease are not only at a higher risk of developing severe illness but are also at an increased risk of death if they become ill. 

People with underlying uncontrolled medical conditions such as diabetes; hypertension; lung, liver, and kidney disease; cancer patients on chemotherapy; smokers; transplant recipients; and patients taking steroids chronically are at an increased risk of COVID-19 infection. 

Eswatini WHO Health Promotion Officer Dr Kevin Makadzange said the assumption that people with no comorbidities were at no risk of dying from COVID-19 was not true as everybody, of all ages, was at an equal risk of dying from the virus. 

Dr Makadzange emphasised that the youth, as the figures proved that they were the ones who had the highest prevalence of the virus, should practise caution at all times and adhere to the COVID-19 stipulated regulations to minimise the spread of the virus. 

Risk

“It is true that the people at greater risk are those with comorbidities but that is not to say those who do not have them are at no risk at all. We are all at risk. Anyone, with or without comorbidities, can die from COVID-19 and if there are people who still think they are immune from the virus, then they have it all wrong,” he said. 

In a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States in June 2020, it was reported that patients with underlying conditions were six times more likely to be hospitalised than those without any comorbidities, with the most common underlying conditions being cardiovascular disease (32 per cent), diabetes (30 per cent) and chronic lung disease (18 per cent).

 The case fatality rates for those with underlying conditions versus those with no underlying conditions were 19.5 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively. In other words, fatal outcomes were 12 times more likely in patients with comorbidities.

Sibusiso Shongwe, a 28-year-old resident of Mbabane, who is a COVID-19 survivor, having spent about a week at the Mavuso Quarantine Centre over two months ago, attested to the fact that the youth had a wrong perception about the virus. 

Shongwe said he had that perception until he contracted the virus and he was at the brink of death while admitted to the Mavuso Quarantine Centre.

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