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Comment by slg | Hacker News Reader

It would be extremely rare for a professional athlete to have an undiagnosed heart condition serious enough that doctors recommend months of zero physical activity. This isn't a normal person. This is someone watched over by world class doctors and who constantly has his performance, health, and bio data measured. The condition is almost certainly a result of COVID.

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The rub is that extremely rare is not impossible. It's happened before with ephedra famously.

Since this is basically an anecdote we cannot conclude anything on the population

I mean I started that first comment with "It is anecdotal". I realize this isn't hard science, but pretending that it is meaningless because it "is not impossible" that he had a prior condition is also pretty worthless from a scientific standpoint. I don't think you realize how closely professional athletes are monitored nowadays. We obviously can't say anything with certainty while observing from afar, but it is incredibly unlikely his condition wasn't caused by COVID. And since this is just an anecdote, I don't understand the inclination to advocate for the devil and that tiny likelihood of it not being COVID related.

But you went from an anectodal note to the conclusion "This virus isn't something you want to mess with even if you are young and fit." as if it was an universal truth, whereas if you're young and fit, the virus is at 99.9% something you can mess with without any consequence.

Enjoy this survey paper titled "Sudden Cardiac Death in Athletes."[1]

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4969030/

As I said:

>a professional athlete... is someone watched over by world class doctors and who constantly has his performance, health, and bio data measured.

You can't compare the likelihood of a heart issue going undiagnosed in a professional athlete versus a high school kid or an adult participating in an unorganized sport.

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