[INTRO MUSIC] SPEAKER 1: So among people who get COVID-19 , some are at much higher risk for having severe disease. Let's talk about what some of those risks are. Some people are much more likely to have severe disease if they get infected. In particular, older adults who are over the age of 65 are much more likely to have severe COVID-19 disease than others. And those risks increase with age. So the older you are, the more likely you are to have severe disease. People who are obese also have an increased risk of severe disease. I want to point out that some people who are severely ill with COVID-19 are young and perfectly healthy. So I don't want you to get the impression that all people who have severe disease are older or have other chronic medical conditions. Sometimes young, perfectly healthy people can also become severely ill. That's rare. It's a small proportion of infections. And children are very unlikely to be severely ill. But it does happen sometimes. Other existing medical conditions that increase the risk of severe disease in COVID-19 include diabetes, hypertension, any kind of lung disease such as asthma or emphysema or COPD, which is chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. People who have heart disease, liver disease, any kind of kidney disease are also at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease. People who have weakened immune systems are also at increased risk. And some people have weakened immune systems because they're taking certain medications like steroids or others that affect their immune function. If someone has HIV and they're on medication and their HIV infection is controlled, they're not at substantial increased risk for COVID-19 severe disease. Let's talk about death from COVID-19. So how does this disease kill? First, if the lungs aren't able to recover-- if the virus damages the lungs too much and the patient is unable to breathe on their own, then that's one way that someone can die from COVID-19. Another way is through lack of oxygen. So if the lungs aren't functioning properly, then you can't get enough oxygen in your body and that can damage many of your other organ systems. And you need all of those to function in order to survive. So damage to those organs can put you at increased risk for a heart attack or kidney failure, strokes or other blood clotting disorders that can all cause death from COVID-19 . Some people are at higher risk for death than others. It depends generally on your health before you get sick and also access to care. So if someone gets sick with COVID-19 but is unable to seek care early in the illness, then they're at higher risk for death. It's important for people who develop severe disease to be able to get the supportive care they need quickly. Death from COVID-19 is rare among young and healthy people, but it can happen. Death among older adults who have COVID-19 is much more common and it increases with age. 2% to 5% of people aged 65 to 75 years will likely die from COVID-19 in the United States. That risk increases to 4 to 10% among those aged 75 to 85, and is over 10% in people aged more than 85 years old. This is why it's so important to help keep people in these higher age groups safe from infection. It's very important that we do everything we can to try to limit transmission to people who are in these high risk age categories. Right now, we don't have any specific treatment to cure COVID-19. Although scientists are working very, very hard and as quickly as possible to find treatments. The best treatment we have now is to support the body's functions until the body's immune system can fight off the infection. Many patients with lung disease and severe lung disease require mechanical ventilation. That's a breathing machine. We also call it a ventilator. And it helps patients breathe while their body is fighting off this infection. People who need it will receive this kind of mechanical ventilation support to keep their lungs working so that their body can continue to get the oxygen it needs while it's working hard to fight the virus. Currently, these are the best treatments we have for people who have severe COVID-19 disease. [OUTRO MUSIC]