“As a neonatologist, ... prior to COVID, I had maybe attended two to three deliveries in the medical ICU because it’s not common for women of childbearing age in their 20s and 30s to be critically ill and sick,” she said. Now, she said, “I truly cannot remember the last time I was on call at night and did not have to attend a COVID delivery. We’re just seeing a lot more complications in moms who you would expect to be healthy.”

Utah Department of Health reports that 81% of the state’s coronavirus deaths were patients who were “high risk,” only 52% of hospitalizations were of people deemed to have risk factors for serious illness.

Now thousands of people have shared their own stories about living through the pandemic with chronic illness — and about coping with remarks from media personalities and even health officials that minimize the human toll of COVID-19 because deaths and hospitalizations disproportionately affect people who are old or have underlying medical conditions.