Thompson does not assert that his ability to care for himself has diminished, much less “substantially” so. Id. To the contrary, his hypertension and high cholesterol are managed effectively by medication. Moreover, Thompson previously has reported that he suffers no lingering effects from his 2009 stroke.
We acknowledge that Thompson’s chronic illnesses place him at a higher risk of severe symptoms, should he contract COVID, is true for a person without these illnesses.[1] Nonetheless, as the district court noted, it is uncertain that he is at a significantly higher risk than is the general inmate population. In fact, nearly half of the adult population in the United States suffers from hypertension.[2] And roughly 12% of Americans suffer from high cholesterol.[3] Thus, we cannot say that either of those conditions makes Thompson’s case “extraordinary.”[4] Unfortunately, both are commonplace. And we cannot conclude that his increased risk makes either “terminal.” See
- ↑ See People with Certain Medical Conditions, Ctrs. for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fneed-extra-precautions%2Fgroups-at-higher-risk.html (Dec. 1, 2020) (listing underlying medical conditions that pose a higher risk of severe illness from COVID).
- ↑ Dep’t of Health and Hum. Servs., Ctrs. for Disease Control and Prevention, Nat’l Ctr. for Health Stats., NCHS Data Brief No. 364, Hypertension Prevalence Among Adults Aged 18 and Over: United States, 2017–2018, at 1 (Apr. 2020), https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db364-h.pdf.
- ↑ Dep’t of Health and Hum. Servs., Ctrs. for Disease Control and Prevention, Nat’l Ctr. for Health Stats., NCHS Data Brief No. 363, Total and High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Adults: United States, 2015–2018, at 1 (Apr. 2020), https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db363-h.pdf.
- ↑ See Extraordinary, Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019) (“[b]eyond what is usual, customary, regular, or common”).
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