Unfortunately one of the biggest risk factors & curiously enough not publicised - is being more than around 10% over-weight. Given Australia regularly ranks 1st or 2nd in the obesity stakes (swapping with the US) - that you would think would see the Govt publicise & encourage people to use their 'enforced' free time to perhaps make a life-saving effort at losing a kg or two.
A very high proportion of the early deaths in NY of under 60s were more than 10% over-weight. Once ICUs got over capacity the mortality rates spiked and the data became more driven by whether someone arrived as someone else died & got swapped onto the rapidly cleaned machines.
Over 85% of medical staff who died in the first weeks at two NY hospitals were >10% over-weight. There was one 'cause celebre' family which lost 5 family members early on, another died shortly after this NY article on March 18th when the US was relatively CV free. At the time the first family member apparently caught it the total number of +ve CV cases in all NY was under 150:
Coronavirus Ravages 7 Members of a Single Family, Killing 4 ...
www.nytimes.com › 2020/03/18 › nyregion › new-jersey-family-corona...
Mar 18, 2020 - The matriarch of the large New Jersey family died Wednesday night ... after her son died from the virus and five days after her daughter's death, a relative said. ... New Jersey, which had made great strides against the virus, sees a ... and at least 172 have died, according to a New York Times database.
What a Family That Lost 5 to the Virus Wants You to Know (Published 2020)
The family’s 73-year-old matriarch, three of her 11 children and her sister all died of Covid-19. Her survivors are focused on finding a remedy.
Reports how some of the family survivors lost over 20kgs while in ICU.
Early on there was some reports about the link between obesity & mortality but after Cuomo ordered CV+ patients discharged from hospitals into NY nursing homes - the spiralling death toll of the aged took over the headlines. There were a number of theories put forward but no research has appeared to have followed.
One was that the higher proportion of fat stored within the body 'powered' the CV virus replication compared with people with much lower body energy stores. As loss of appetite (loss of taste & smell etc) saw all reduce intake & then if admitted into hospital calorific intake specifically set - then excess energy available to CV is cut....
Another posited was that the body (closed system) is already under stress from dealing with the excess weight & has less 'ability' to switch its focus onto the new adversary. This coupled with for many (not all) >10% overweight people generally exercise less etc - so their lung capacity etc is already retarded.
Who knows why being significantly over-weight is so adverse - but it just seems to be the way.
