“Many will end up with damaged lungs and thereafter may be constrained in the future,’’ he said. “Any respiratory illness will make you sick, because you don’t have reserves, and things like running cross country or doing a 5K race may be out. You may not be able to be as active because your lungs don’t have the capacity anymore.”
The flood of young patients has been hard for doctors, said Jackson.
“It’s hard to lose anyone,” she said. But when physicians have to intubate patients in their 20s, 30s and 40s—that weighs heavy. “It’s the young, those with their full lives ahead of them who have no medical problems, they stand out. They are the ones that are hard to forget.”
--With assistance from Jason Grotto and John Tozzi.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.