Legal issues aside, the early cruise ship experiences showed us how mysterious and inconsistent the virus is.
The husband got covid and died. The wife was fine?
Something like 20% of those early cruise passengers tested positive. Many of those were asymptomatic. Some died. But most, like the wife in the article, not affected?
Very strange.
We don’t know the medical histories of the husband and wife. One might have been predisposed to not do as well.
Honestly, it’s really not that mysterious of a virus. On balance, it behaves similarly to most of the other known coronaviruses, more contagious than some far less virulent than others.
If you look back on the Diamond Princess, the virus really didn’t play out that much differently than it did anywhere else. The virus had a slightly elevated IFR than it does today, globally. BUT, that cruise ship also had a much older passenger complement than the general public. So, a slightly elevated death rate makes sense.
With respect to why the virus impacts other dramatically but many don’t even know they’re sick, it all comes down to age and pre-existing conditions. Absent advanced age and a pre-existing condition, like morbid obesity, diabetes, lung problems, hypertension and others, the chances of becomes critically ill with the virus are very very low.
Sure, it’s killed a lot of people. But, a lot of people have been infected because it is - on balance - a reasonably contagious virus. However, it’s not remotely as deadly as a Marburg virus like Ebola or even the Spanish Flu. There are PLENTY of more dangerous viruses around today. But, the vast majority of those are not respiratory viruses, which makes it very much harder to catch them.