Coronavirus: How the youngest 25 in Florida died of COVID-19 – Florida Today

Hospital officials feared early on that COVID-19 would cause a shortage in ventilators. Medical Examiner data shows the disease killed a small percentage of young people infected. Of the first almost 1,500 deaths, less than 2% were age 40 or younger.(Photo: ugurhan, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

EDITORS NOTE: With this story we are providing information about the COVID-19 crisis that state leaders dont want you to see. We chose to make this story broadly accessible because of the importance of its content. But quality, fact-checked reporting isnt free. Collecting and verifying news is a costly and time-consuming endeavor and perhaps has never mattered more than it does now. Please show your support for quality reporting like this by subscribing to FLORIDA TODAY. Subscribe here.

Like more than2,000 other Floridians who died of COVID-19, the vast majority of young people to have had their livescutshort by the novel coronavirus werealready strugglingwith other chronic health problems when the new illness hit them.

Florida health officials do not want the public to see the details of how the first 25 people age 40 or youngerdied, as described in the Florida Medical Examiners Commission database, or details of any of the state's COVID-19 deaths, for that matter.The FloridaDepartment of Health had blocked the commission from releasing the data, saying they were concerned about privacy.

FLORIDA TODAY and USA TODAY Networkobtained thedata as part of a public records request. When the state released it, state officialsattempted to redact the detailed narrativesand the probables cause of death. But FLORIDA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network like other news outlets wereable to access the "blacked out" columns, andmade the information availablein this searchable database. The database does not include names, and weve removed the medical examiner case identification numbers.

Itcovers the 1,489 COVID-19 deaths across Floridaas of 11 a.m. on May 6.

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Who's getting and dying from COVID-19 in Brevard

When studying disease, health researchers talk of years of life lost. In other words, would the person have died soon anyway and how long would they otherwise have lived if they hadn't been infected with the virus? One recent study, yet to be peer reviewed, conducted by University of Glasgow in Scotland, found on average that people who died from COVID-19 lost more than a decade of life to the disease.

So FLORIDA TODAY took a closer look at those age 40 and younger who died of COVID-19-related illness statewide and what contributing factors the examiners noted.

As of May 6, the 25 people age 40 or younger who had died were just 1.6% of theoverall 1,489 COVID-19 deaths across Florida atthat point in time.FLORIDA TODAY has listed the details of those 25 deaths below.

An illustration image of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.(Photo: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Of the 25 deaths, 17 were men and eight were women.Most suffered from asthma, chronic bronchitis,morbid obesity and hypertension or some combination of all the above.

Race also appeared to be a risk factor. Of the 25 youngestto die, 12 were black, almost half the deaths. For eight of the 25, the medical examiner noted obesity among their health issues. Eight also had diabetes among the biggest risk factors for dying from the new coronavirus, according tothe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research by CDC and others has found that in more than90% of COVID-19 deaths, the victimhad at least one underlying condition.

Joy Medeiro left Parrish Medical Center Wednesday after spending 41 days in the Intensive Care Unit fighting COVID-19. Florida Today

Here are details on the 25 youngest victims to die fromthe virus in Florida, as of May 6, and as described by medical examiners, listed from youngest to oldest:

Our journalists are working hard to report on the coronavirus and its effects on the Space Coast, and bring you the stories free of charge as a service to the community. If these local stories are important to you, support us by becoming a subscriber. Right now you cantry a digital subscription for $3 for 3 months.

Jim Waymer is environment reporter atFLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663

or jwaymer@floridatoday.com.

Twitter:@JWayEnviro

Facebook:www.facebook.com/jim.waymer

Support local journalism: It you would like to read more government and political news, and you are not a subscriber, please consider subscribing. For details, go tooffers.floridatoday.com.

Read or Share this story: https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2020/05/18/coronavirus-how-youngest-25-florida-died-covid-19/5196995002/

Here is the original post:
Coronavirus: How the youngest 25 in Florida died of COVID-19 - Florida Today