Two recent deaths in Central Texas underscores COVID-19 can kill anyone

Austin Public Health reported that a woman in her 70s with underlying health conditions died Friday. She was the second person to die in an Austin hospital from COVID-19, although he 44-year-old man who died Thursday night will not be in the Austin/Travis County tally. Instead, Adolph Mendez will be counted as a Comal County case, where he was a kindergarten teacher and where his family had told reporters that he was healthy before coming down with the novel virus.

"This idea that this is an illness for grandma and grandpa doesn't hold water. We're seeing lots of young adults get very sick," said Dr. Peter Hotez. dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. He told CBS Austin that younger people are not immune to severe disease or even death. "The word is that young adults need to take social distancing very seriously, it's not just the matter of protecting your parents or your grandparents," he said.

Austin Public Health did not release further details about the patient in her 70s who succumbed Friday, citing family privacy. But the Centers for Disease Control says 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths in the US are in people over the age of 65.

But here in Austin-Travis County -- most positive COVID-19 cases are confirmed in people under the age of 50.

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You may have heard that men are more likely to die from COVID-19 as well -- but Doctor Hotez says it's too soon to know if that is true -- that it could be more than sex differences. "For instance, in China, we know the smoking rate, tobacco use is higher among males than females, maybe that has something to do with it," he said.

Austin Public Health says if you have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 like fever, coughing, shortness of breath or loss of sense of smell or taste -- avoid potentially spreading it by checking in via telemedicine or calling your doctor to be screened.

People who don't have insurance or established healthcare providers experiencing COVID-19 symptoms should call CommUnityCare at 512-978-8775.