From the desk of Dr. Gupta

One of the things that has been so perplexing to me as a doctor has been the stories of seemingly young and healthy people who are diagnosed with coronavirus, decline quickly and die.

It is one that has perplexed health officials too. As Dr. Anthony Fauci told me, it is what makes the coronavirus such an "unusual disease."

"I'm fascinated," he said, "by what I would call the pathogenesis.”

"You know, you get so many people who do well and then some people who just, bingo, they're on a respirator, they're on ECMO (a cardio-pulmonary machine) and they're dead.”

One heartbreaking story is that of 30-year-old Ben Luderer and his wife, Brandy. Ben was a healthy, athletic young man who died days after being released from the emergency room.

We know Covid-19 puts older people at greater risk. Why is this happening to people so young?

The answers may lie somewhere in our genes. And maybe that will yield answers down the road. To better define the underlying pathology could take months, and may be variable in patients, no matter their age.

While it is true that a significant percentage of young people may be at increased risk because Americans have such a high baseline rate of pre-existing diseases such as diabetes, it is the perfectly healthy young people -- like Ben -- who we need to better understand.

For now, no matter your age or underlying condition, the advice remains the same: Stay home, wash your hands and reduce your virus exposure as much as possible.