Some coronavirus good news is coming into focus, providing hope for couples planning their weddings.
Age matters
The coronavirus disproportionately affects older folks, those with with serious pre-existing conditions, and the obese.
- 78% of all coronavirus fatalities occur in those over 65 years of age, especially if they have respiratory, heart, diabetes, and obesity issues.
- By contrast, only 143 people thirty-four and under died from the coronavirus.
In other words, as public gatherings re-commence, coronavirus health risks are minimal for most healthy adults you may want to invite to your wedding.
More coronavirus good news
Even more, researchers are discovering that the coronavirus isn’t as deadly as originally thought, according to Andrew Bogan, a molecular biologist writing in the Wall Street Journal.
He said researchers studied a representative sample of residents in Santa Clara County, California and discovered a far greater percentage of the population had been infected with the coronavirus than originally thought. In other other words, infections were 50 to 85 times as great as they thought. That’s actually good news. Mr. Bogan explains:
“That may sound scary, but it’s great news. It suggests that the large majority of people who contract Covid-19 recover without ever knowing they were infected, and that the U.S. infection fatality rate may be more than an order of magnitude lower than authorities had assumed. Based on this seroprevalence data, the authors estimate that in Santa Clara County the true infection fatality rate is somewhere in the range of 0.12% to 0.2%—far closer to seasonal influenza than to the original, case-based estimates.”
Smaller tests in New York discovered the same thing. Same thing in Robbio, Italy, Iceland, Gangelt, Germany, and Denmark.
Yes, the coronavirus is worse than the typical influenza. But the medical community seems to be reducing fatality projections on a weekly basis. As Andrew Bogan stated above, the true fatality rate may be closer to that of seasonal influenzas.
As an article in Forbes pointed out, we’re seeing a sharp drop in the daily growth rate of the virus, and new cases are declining.
So there’s good coronavirus news unfolding on a daily basis.
When will things return to normal? Time will tell. Public spaces and events will start reopening on a state-by-state basis and city-by-city basis.
How does this affect wedding planning?
So how does all of this relate to wedding plans? The Knot’s executive director, Lauren Kay was optimistic.
“when large gatherings are permitted again [I] anticipate weddings will be among the first events to thrive again.
It will definitely take some time to define what ‘normal’ looks like again for events and weddings following the COVID-19 pandemic. There will definitely be a ramp-up period and consumers who are hesitant to travel or be in large crowds at first, but what the coronavirus has done for so many is show them the value of human connection with those near and dear to their hearts.”
According to Ms. Kay, only 4 percent of couples outright cancelled their weddings.
So start planning your wedding knowing that friends and family are hungry to reconnect. Start planning because this country and this state need wedding celebrations to help us heal from this national trauma.
Things will be different for awhile. Some of your older guests may not be able to attend due to health concerns. But even if you downsize your guest list, entertainment makes the event. Columbus Pro DJs will make it a celebration for the ages whether you have 200 or 100 guests. Learn more today without obligation with a single phone call: 614-224-1945.
