Let’s be honest, it is not a nice thing to say, but it is the truth and sometimes the truth hurts. According to a report in CNN yesterday , countries with high rates of obesity in their populations, at least 50%, had high numbers of Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths. In contrast, countries with low rates of obesity, less than 40%, had low levels of Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths. This pattern appears even when accounting for the age and wealth of the nations’ populations. Here are the details:
The report found that every country where less than 40% of the population was overweight had a low Covid-19 death rate of no more than 10 people per 100,000.
Vietnam had one of the world’s lowest Covid-19 death rates, with 0.04 deaths occurring per 100,000 people. The country’s overweight population comes in at 18.3%. Other countries on the low death rate list with similar patterns include Japan, Thailand and South Korea.But in countries where more than 50% of the population was overweight, the Covid-19 death rate was much higher — more than 100 per 100,000.In the US, where 152.49 deaths were recorded per 100,000 people, 67.9% of the adult population is overweight, according to the report.
Well, here we are, one year of living with the economically and psychologically devastating lock downs. We’ve suffered an entire year of our freedom stolen from us, small businesses forced into bankruptcy, deaths of despair because of forced social isolation, and sky rocketing unemployment. And why? Come to find out it wasn’t because “covid deniers” refused to mask up and socially distance, but because of obese people. And to think, all this time, we could have lived normal lives if we didn’t have so many obese Americans. I don’t like writing that since I have obese friends and family members and no one likes to reading it, but it is the truth.
So what is the best way to prevent further Covid hospitalizations and deaths going forward? It is not locking down, closing gyms, staying home, and masking up. It is not getting the non-vaccine or carrying around “immunity passports.” It is getting your caboose to the gym, going outside and taking a walk, changing your eating habits to something healthier. In other words: losing weight!
Update: The New York Post reports that a gobsmacking 90% of all Covid deaths have taken place in nations with high obesity rates, and that researchers behind this new study now want to prioritize obese people for Covid shots. How is this going to work? Will fat front-line workers in hospitals and doctors’ offices going to get the shot before healthy ones? Will the obese teachers get the vaccine first while the healthy teachers have to wait? Will younger obese people be prioritized over thinner elderly people? The elderly are at a significant vulnerability, too, but they can’t get younger while the obese can lose weight.
I supposed prioritizing the obese will stem the problem in the short term, but it will do nothing in the long term. Obesity will still be the main source of many deadly diseases and illnesses and is almost entirely the fault of the individual obese person. Again, no one likes to hear this and I’m not saying it to be cruel because as I said I have friends and family members who are very overweight, but it is the truth.