Coronavirus – Does having Diabetes make me more vulnerable?
For the official advice on COVID-19 / Coronavirus please visit – https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
If, like myself, you have been keeping a close eye on the official government advice surrounding COVID-19 you may have noticed the following which may seem quite confusing. The original list of those who are considered ‘high risk’ included those with Diabetes or even advice that didn’t list Diabetes specifically did state that anyone who normally requires a flu jab was in the high risk category.
You may have also then noticed that when the official ‘shielding’ advice came into place that Diabetes was no longer on the ‘high risk’ list.
Understandably this seemed to cause a lot of confusion and I’ve seen endless posts in Diabetes forums discussing this and wondering what it means.
Does it mean that they know more about the virus now and we are in fact no more at risk than others?
Is it a mistake and we have been missed off this new list?
From all of the official information that I have read, from my own individual research and from discussing this subject with a medical professional this is what I have found.
The original high risk list was a general statement which included pretty much anyone who had any kind of underlying health condition.
Once they released the official shielding guidelines they had put together a new, more specific, list which only includes those who are the most vulnerable in terms of contracting the virus.
These are the people who are not only more susceptible to contracting the virus in the first place but are also more likely to become extremely ill if they get it. Therefore these are the people who need to do everything possible to protect themselves and we, the general public, need to do everything we can to help shield these individuals from the virus.
However, just because Diabetes is not listed in this extremely vulnerable group does not mean you should relax any of the original precautions that you were taking to prevent you from catching the virus. No, having Diabetes does not make you any more likely to catch the virus than anyone else, however it could still cause serious complications if you were to catch it.
I’m sure you all know the impact that just the common cold can have on you and your blood sugar levels so you know that any illness can, potentially, become more serious due to the fact that it can cause your blood sugar levels to have a mind of their own and become extremely difficult to control.
This, in itself, can make you very unwell.
I hope this answers a few questions surrounding the ‘high risk’ and ‘vulnerable’ lists for COVID-19.
If you do experience Coronavirus symptoms please follow all of the official advice and make sure you speak to your Diabetes team if your blood sugar levels are becoming increasingly difficult to control.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms-and-what-to-do/
