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| Physique-wise, Trump is the perfect embodiment of the country he "leads". |
As I write, the United States now has the highest number of cases of COVID-19 of any country on Earth. To be fair to Trump, however, the United States' situation is not entirely down to the federal government's ineptitude. Often forgotten is that a nation's susceptibility to pandemics not only depends on the quality of its health system--a significant determinant of which is state action--but also the underlying health of its people. In 2004, Greg Critser described the United States as Fat Land. The title was true enough back then when the US obesity rate was around 30%. That statistic was, for me and many non-Americans, mind-boggling even then. Imagine now that the US obesity rate is 42.4%. 42.4! More than 4 in 10 Americans are at least as fat as their "leader".
Lest you think I'm just being mean, it's relatively uncontested that risk factors associated with obesity such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and respiratory illness have been found to exacerbate the severity of COVID-19 infection:
The huge burden of obesity and other chronic conditions among Americans puts most of us at direct risk. In fact, with obesity rates in the United States much higher than affected countries like South Korea and China, our outcomes — economic- and health-wise — could be much worse...Preliminary studies from China certainly do not contradict this assessment, which is proving uncannily accurate of where the US is headed. Speaking of which, early observations suggest that obese Yanks will not fare any better:
Data from China suggest that many chronic health problems increase the likelihood of a bad outcome, including cardiovascular disease, which affects nearly half the adults in the United States in some form, and diabetes, which affects about 10 percent. In Italy, 99 percent of the fatalities were people with pre-existing medical problems, especially hypertension...
Moreover, in the United States, obesity-related metabolic conditions may put the public at exceptional risk. Today, more than two of three adults have high body weight, and 42 percent have obesity, among the highest rates in the world. Almost two in 10 children have obesity. Excessive weight, and the poor-quality diet that causes it, is strongly associated with insulin resistance, chronic inflammation and other abnormalities that may lower immunity to viral respiratory infection or predispose to complications.
Also read the full report to get a better picture of what's happening Stateside:In a report from the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published Thursday, researchers conclude that Americans with diabetes, chronic lung disease and cardiovascular disease — all diseases linked to obesity — are at higher risk of experiencing a severe infection due to COVID-19.The study analyzed more than 7,000 cases of coronavirus from February 12 to March 28. Out of the 457 individuals admitted to the ICU in that time, 358 — or 78 percent — reported having one or more underlying health conditions. Nearly 11 percent of the ICU-admitted individuals listed diabetes, followed by 9.2 percent reporting chronic lung disease and 9 percent reporting cardiovascular disease. Less than 30 percent of COVID-19 patients who recovered without hospitalization reported having an underlying health condition.
What is already known about this topic?Let's skip the fancy terms here: In plain English, there would be far fewer Americans with "underlying health conditions" that exacerbate COVID-19's impact if they simply weren't so fat. Trump's buffoonery has undoubtedly contributed to the United States' mounting death toll--near the top of global league tables already. However, Americans being as outrageously fat as he is should be noted as an extenuating factor.
Published reports from China and Italy suggest that risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease include underlying health conditions, but data describing underlying health conditions among U.S. COVID-19 patients have not yet been reported.
What is added by this report?
Based on preliminary U.S. data, persons with underlying health conditions such as diabetes mellitus, chronic lung disease, and cardiovascular disease, appear to be at higher risk for severe COVID-19–associated disease than persons without these conditions.
What are the implications for public health practice?
Strategies to protect all persons and especially those with underlying health conditions, including social distancing and handwashing, should be implemented by all communities and all persons to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
As bad as things are Stateside, they are likely to get even worse when more cases pop up not in relatively healthier coastal cities but in the heartland where people are fatter and have a higher death rate as a result:
The coronavirus has been a far deadlier threat in New Orleans than the rest of the United States, with a per-capita death rate twice that of New York City. Doctors, public health officials and available data say the Big Easy’s high levels of obesity and related ailments may be part of the problem.And which places voted for Trump? In the end, you indeed get the leader you deserve.
“We’re just sicker,” said Rebekah Gee, who until January was the health secretary for Louisiana and now heads Louisiana State University’s healthcare services division. “We already had tremendous healthcare disparities before this pandemic – one can only imagine they are being amplified now...”
New Orleans residents suffer from obesity, diabetes and hypertension at rates higher than the national average, conditions that doctors and public health officials say can make patients more vulnerable to COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.
