Matt, the vast majority of my family lives to be 90+ and she was in very good health at 76. COV-19 is no joke regardless as to what race you are
You are right that Covid-19 is no joke. And that's why I was a little surprised to you you report about your aunt, because your genetic proclivity towards youth and outward physical health [although just because someone looks young or is aging slowly on the outside does not necessarily mean it's a perfect correlation with internal biological health]. I'm not surprised in the least to hear that your family has an ultra high lifespan average. And even though I have said in the past that Covid-19 is mainly targeting the very elderly who had very few years left [in Canada, 87% of all cases are over the age of 80], the fact that your aunt was 76 and in good health leads me to believe that she may well have been an example of someone who would have made it to 90 if not for COVID.
But what can you do? In my grandmother's case, she is basically a prisoner in her own home at 88. But speaking of aunts, my aunt lives with her, as well as my cousin. So my grandmother has her daughter and her granddaughter, which is better than nothing, I guess. I definitely don't want to downplay COVID to my grandma only to find out that she got it as a result of not taking it seriously.
So by all means - continue to raise awareness. While I'm not personally worried about COVID, and do think most people are worried out of proportion to the actual threat, you are still right that COVID is no joke.
Regarding what you said about race...I think I may have read something about Blacks having an advantage with COVID. Whatever the study...it was specifically about Blacks and COVID, and there were some disparities found [presumably this is true of every race - even if the differences are subtle].
It's just a shame to hear about an otherwise healthy woman dying of it. If she was healthy at 76, she may have well felt like she was 50, only to have COVID zap out whatever remaining life she had left, which may have been decades.
Hoping you're coping ok with it all, Vince. From my family to yours.
