Hi Ranty Nation!  Ranty McRantyson har agin!

Ah wuz havin a talk wit someone ah know, who’s an anti-vax, COVID-19 hoax, masks don’t work, blah, blah, blah Republican, an he wuz yammerin away sayin that, “Them COVID-19 deaths dun be fake news. Folks ain’t dyin frum COVID-19, they’s dyin frum they’s comorbidities!”  Well, needless to say, ah wuz kinda flabbergasted that folk were still swallowin that buncha malarky.  So ah thunked ah’d break it down “Ranty style” as to why “that jus don’t make no sense”(©)!

Whut’s a “Comorbidity”?

Well, if’n we’all want to know whut it means, then the best place to start is probably the dictionary (I know y’all probly got one, if not, they’s a bunch on the InterTubes).  It’s a book that tells us whut wurds mean.

Comorbidity: A concomitant but unrelated pathological or disease process.

Whew!  Yeah, them medical folk sure do like to use big wurds to explain sumthin that’s purty simple. Ah guess they thunk it makes them sound smarter.  So ah’ll simplify it fur you with a “Ranty definition” (©).

Comorbidity: A serious health problem y’all live wit, but might end up bein deadly.

A few examples might be stuff like diabetes, bein overweight, smokin, lung disease, heart disease, etc.  The thing is wit these, is A LOT of Mericans have em an live jus fine.  Maybe not the best quality of life, but they’s bodies dun adjusted over time an those folk have learned to live wit they’s health problems.

Comorbidities and COVID-19

So y’all’re probly askin, “Them’s deadly diseases.  Lot’s of folk die frum them ever year.  So, why do heathcare folk say it wuz COVID-19 that killed them instead of the comorbidities?”  That’s a gud question an har’s why.

The Miracle of the Human Body

While we all have aches an pains, it really is a purty durned miracle wit whut our bodies can live wit.  Everone reading this talk’s probly bin hurt at one time or another.  An our bodies probly healed frum bein hurt.  Now that ain’t to say we’all’re as gud as we wuz befur, but fur most thangs we git healed purty gud.  An whut our bodies can’t fix on they’s own, medical science can usually help git us better.

We’all’s bodies’re also purty gud at learnin to live wit problems.  Ah’s gittin older an ah can feel aches an pains frum most of the serious injuries ah’ve had in the past.  They’s a “background pain” level ah’ve learned to live wit an ignore.  Most folk’re like that.

The same’s true of “comorbidities”.  They’s problems that we’all’s bodies’ve learned to live wit.  In fact most folk, so long as they happens over a long enough time, can live with a couple comorbidities.

Fur example, y’all can have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD, a type of lung disease that makes it hard to breathe) an live, though y’all’ll probly git tired easy an maybe even need oxygen to help y’all git around.  Same wit Congestive Heart Failure (where y’all’s heart don’t pump blood very well).  Y’all can git around, but y’all ain’t gonna be runnin much an might need oxygen also.  Y’all can also git Diabetes an live a purty normal life, so long as y’all eat right an take yurs medicine.

Heck, y’all can even live with any two, an sumtimes more, comorbidities, if’n y’all’re careful.  But wit each one y’all add to the mix, the wurse yur quality of life’ll git.  An the more likely y’all’re to die frum one or more.

The point is, y’all can live with comorbidities, at least fur awhile.

Let’s Add COVID-19 to the Mix

Theys millions of Mericans that live wit comorbidities. Wit sum care an gud medicine, theys can live purty long lives an be thankful theys can.  But, unfurtunately, COVID-19 tends to attack the same areas that them comorbidities already weakened.  Cuz they’s weakened an thems folk’s bodies don’t have as much “extra capacity”, COVID-19 pushes they’s bodies “over the edge” an into the hospital or even causes thems to die!

So Why Do These Folk Say It Ain’t COVID-19 That Kills Folk?

Well, fur whatever reason (probly sum bull manure they’s bin listenin to), these folk dun got it into they’s heads that the folk wit comorbidities AN COVID-19 are dyin WIT COVID-19, but not FRUM COVID-19!  So, “Whut’s the differnce”, y’all might be askin?

Well, mah answer’s that them folk dun bin livin jus fine BEFUR they’s got COVID-19, but when theys GIT COVID-19, they’s git sick, go to the hospital, an die.  So the REASON they’s died wuz FRUM the COVID-19.

Now most folk’ll say, “Uh, DUH!”  But fur sum reason them COVID-19 denying folk’re tryin to say that it wuz the comorbidities that dun killed them, not COVID-19.  Well, fur them folk har are sum reasons why whut y’all’re sayin jus don’t make no sense(©):

Non-COVID-19 Thangs that Kill Folk wit Comorbidities

Let’s take a look a how ridiculous COVID-19 deniers are.

John wit COPD

Now let’s say y’all’ve a friend named John.  Y’all’ve know him fur a really long time.  John has COPD frum wurkin in a smokehouse, but has bin livin wit it fur 10+ years.  Unfurtunately, while drivin on the way home frum wurk, John’s car gits hit by a semi-truck an, sadly, dies.

Accordin to COVID-19 denier thunkin, it weren’t the semi-truck that killed John, it wuz his comorbidity, COPD.  An, who knows?  MAYBE if’n John didn’t have COPD, MAYBE he’d bin able to live long enough in the car wreck to git to a hospital where theys cud of saved his life.

But ah thunk that most folk’d thunk that it wuz the semi-truck that killed him.

Mary wit Congestive Heart Failure

Mary has congestive heart failure.  She’s had it since birth cuz, in her case, she wuz born with a heart valve that didn’t wurk jus right.  While she did have sum problems, fur the most part, she’s able to live a purty normal, but not very active, life.

One day Mary was at the bank an sum robbers came in.  Theys told everone to git on the ground.  But Mary, who does thangs purty slowly cuz of her heart problem, didn’t git down on the ground fast enuf fur one of the robbers, an was shot dead.

Accordin to COVID-19 denier logic, it weren’t the bullet that killed Mary, it was her comorbidity, congestive heart failure.  An who knows?  MAYBE if’n Mary didn’t have congestive heart failure, she’d’ve bin able to live long enuf so that she’d bin able to git to the hospital an live.

But ah thunk that most folk’d thunk that it wuz the bullet that killed her.

Bob Who’s Overweight

Bob is bout 5’10” tall an weighs bout 300 lbs.  Believe it or not, he’s purty active in his social life, but works as a pastry chef an loves the food he makes.  Cuz of that he eats too much of the food he dun make an, over the years, has gained over 100 pounds.

Bob’s New Year’s resolution wuz to lose sum weight.  So he decided he’d walk an hour ever day.

While walkin one day he came to a set of stairs, stumbled, an fell down the stairs an died.  Jus bad luck.

Accordin to COVID-19 denier logic, it weren’t the fall down the stairs that killed Bob, it was his comorbidity, bein overweight.  An who knows?  MAYBE if’n Bob hadn’t bin so overweight he wouldn’t have tripped or would’ve survived the fall or even would’ve lived long enuf to git to the hospital an be saved.

But ah thunk that most folk’d thunk that it wuz the fall that killed him.

The Bottom Line: Comorbidities an COVID-19 Edition

Well, the bottom line is that if’n y’all can live wit sumthin an then sumthin else happens an y’all die, then it’s probably the new “sumthin” that killed y’all!  An ah thunk that most folk’d agree wit that.  Specially if’n that “sumthin” is a known deadly disease!

The examples ah dun give were of folk who died FRUM sumthin, not WIT sumthin.  It weren’t the comorbidity that killed them, it wuz the new “sumthin” (car wreck, bullet, fall).

Unfurtunately, them COVID-19/comorbidity deniers dun got the cart befur the horse, so to speak.  They’s trying to say that it’s the problem folk’ve bin livin wit that killed them, not COVID-19, when anyone wit a lick of common sense’d tell you it wuz COVID-19 that killed them.

Anyhoo, ah hope that y’all’ve found this furst talk of the new year helpful!

Ranty McRantyson signin off!

PS.  Har’s a related COVID-19 series of talks ah dun did awhile ago: COVID-19’s Like the Flu, Right? (Part A: The Flu)