Meet Karl Darlow, 30 years old, the main goalkeeper for Newcastle United Football Club. He is tall for football, 6ft 2 inches and normally weighs 172 pounds. He tested positive for COVID on 16 July, he was quite poorly at home for a few days, then he ended up in Wansbeck Hospital. He didn't need to go to Intensive Care, but he was very sick, and lost 30 pounds in weight, over 17% of bodyweight, in just 5 days. For a footballer this is a disaster. He was transferred home at the first opportunity. He is still quite poorly, not with Long Covid (too soon anyway) and is unable to work, though he is able to train some of the time. The soccer season has restarted here. He did not have an ounce of unnecessary fat on him, he was considered one of the fittest members of the squad. What's amazing is that a significant minority of his team mates have still not been vaccinated (and the majority of Middlesbrough players are unvaccinated), thanks to the poisoned well of social media. We've been told he will record a video to encourage vaccination once he has recovered.



Short version: this horrific virus can hit anyone.