Others will suffer these same relatively ‘mild’ symptoms but will fail to recover quickly. These people are no described as the COVID ‘long-haulers’ or the ‘long COVID’ sufferers.
For other people, however, the COVID infection (especially with the Delta variant) will not be contained and it will move to the lower respiratory tract (and many other organs) where more serious complications may occur. When lung function becomes compromised, those infected can experience difficulty breathing and shortness of breath. Oxygen therapy in hospital is often required.
However, the lung damage can also become so severe that fluid exudate forms in the alveoli of the lungs, blood oxygen levels fall and respiration CO2
(carbon dioxide) can no longer
be removed from the blood. This life-threatening pneumonia can lead rapidly to death. Assisting lung function with active ventilation, usually carried out in an intensive care unit (ICU) in hospital, can buy time for recovery. But this doesn’t always succeed. Death can result from respiratory failure or the failure of other essential organs.
Those most likely to develop these life-threatening COVID complications are the elderly, particularly males, and/ or those with ‘pre-existing health conditions’ (eg. those with immune compromise, diabetes and hypertension). Not unexpectedly, it is this demographic who is often seeking information on end of life choices, who are members of Exit and/ or who are subscribers to this eHandbook and whom are very interested in the type of death that COVID-19 brings about.