[0] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/obr.13128
However, it's taboo to outright say that. The Huffington Post runs a regular, "You can be morbidly obese and be perfectly healthy "article. I used to be well over 300 lb, and even now losing weight is one of my primary concerns ( I hover around 240, although when I slack off I'm at 250 again).
>Some speculation has focused on the relative youth of Africans. Their median age is 19 years, compared with 43 in Europe and 38 in the United States. Nearly two-thirds of the population in sub-Saharan Africa is under 25, and only 3 percent is 65 or older. That means far fewer people, comparatively, have lived long enough to develop the health issues (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and cancer) that can sharply increase the risk of severe disease and death from Covid. Young people infected by the coronavirus are often asymptomatic, which could account for the low number of reported cases.
A disease that overwhelming kills the elderly is not going to have a comparable impact on a society where only 3% of the population is over 65. This is especially true when you note that obesity rates in Sub-saharan Africa (with South Africa a notable outlier) are much lower than in "developed" countries that have been hit harder by Covid.
Two paragraphs later:
> Since Covid tore through South and Southeast Asia last year, it has become harder to accept these theories. After all, the population of India is young, too (with a median age of 28), and temperatures in the country are also relatively high. But researchers have found that the Delta variant caused millions of deaths in India, far more than the 400,000 officially reported. And rates of infection with malaria and other coronaviruses are high in places, including India, that have also seen high Covid fatality rates.
Young, thin people have an extremely low covid mortality rate. Young, obese people have a much higher morality rate.
>In a study of COVID-19 cases in patients aged 18 years and younger, having obesity was associated with a 3.07 times higher risk of hospitalization and a 1.42 times higher risk of severe illness (intensive care unit admission, invasive mechanical ventilation, or death) when hospitalized.
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/obesity-and-covid-19.html
Look at a map that shows age and obesity, then overlay that map with the severity of Covid outcomes and you will see a very close correlation.
Case in point, look at China. They are having a terrible time with Omnicron ... and they were the most locked-down society on earth during the original outbreak. Everyone else seems to be opening back up.
"The latest statistics show that 18.4% of women and 7.8% of men on the continent live with obesity "
Couple low BMI with a much lower life expectancy so less people over 65 and I think the main variables are covered.
"The latest statistics show that 18.4% of women and 7.8% of men on the continent live with obesity "
What doesn't kill you can still put you out of work for a few weeks or longer, which can be a very serious problem for the poor.
