here's my take on it bc i am pretty sure i caught it end of feb, started feeling the symptoms early march. i am 44 and have smoked for the most part since my teens. although i am in pretty good shape, aside the smoking, i did get hit by the symptoms for a good week or two and had a residual cough for quite a few weeks after it went away. mostly an exaggerated smokers hack where you clear your throat but much more often. i can tell you that i definitely can understand how if my symptoms were worse i could have been hospitalized. it really isn't something to be a tough guy about, especially if you are overweight. i think all the extra weight on the chest would make someone pass on, almost every person i have seen reported dead that had a picture of them - they were either overweight or very obese. woulda thought being a smoker would have been the biggest factor but it's not it's the weight by far. and i get why now.
fast forward to mid may, i had started finally getting out and about a bit and wouldn't you know it i think i caught some of the germs AGAIN. this time though, probably due to having antibodies, it only progressed for a few days and went away - a much milder version. i don't think the antibodies are going to make people 100% immune, at least not for long, but they will attack the virus very quickly the second time and rid you of symptoms quickly. the first time your body had never seen it so it got hit, after that it's ready to rock.
i feel that i, like most americans, will get this a couple times next season, and the season after that, and maybe from now on...but it will be less and less intrusive as time goes on. for now, especially for the old and obese, it's going to be killer until most people have antibodies. i totally understand how someone can succumb to this.