The data says - by a huge amount - the elderly are most at risk and those with pre-existing conditions. No one ever said it ONLY hurts them, just like with other things it does as a much lower rate affect the young, but it overwhelming impacts those 70+ and especially 80+ (eg: average age of death in Italy is 81 so far). Unfortunately, there are a huge # of relatively young that have pre-existing conditions too, including ones they may not have known about.
Actually, plenty of people have commented inaccurately that it doesn’t affect the young, or that the young just get mild symptoms. Plenty of people with no clue.
I’ve taken care of a lot of patients with ARDS and other pulmonary conditions that prevented them from oxygenating. It’s not a condition with a good prognosis - to put it mildly. Further, as opposed to several other causes of ARDS, viral pneumonia continues to cause damage as the virus replicates and spreads. The only data that matters when you are the one on a ventilator is that 30-40% of people with ARDS, from all causes, don’t leave the hospital.
All of that is not to even mention that this virus is now known to also cause myocarditis (heart inflammation), and thus a percentage of infected patients may go on to have heart failure.
I am in no way an alarmist, but I am a realist, and this is a real concern.