Covid-19 Update
Covid-19 & Obesity
According to the CDC, living with obesity is a common, serious, and costly chronic disease. Having obesity puts people at risk for many other serious chronic diseases and increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Everyone has a role to play in turning the tide against obesity and its disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minority groups.
Obesity Worsens Outcomes from COVID-19
Adults with excess weight are at even greater risk during the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Having obesity increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19. People who are overweight may also be at increased risk
- Having obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to a COVID-19 infection
- Obesity is linked to impaired immune function.
- Obesity decreases lung capacity and reserve and can make ventilation more difficult.
- A study of COVID-19 cases suggests that risks of hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, invasive mechanical ventilation, and death are higher with increasing BMI.
- The increased risk for hospitalization or death was particularly pronounced in those under age 65.
- More than 900,000 adult COVID-19 hospitalizations occurred in the United States between the beginning of the pandemic and November 18, 2020. Models estimate that 271,800 (30.2%) of these hospitalizations were attributed to obesity.
Children diagnosed with obesity may suffer worse outcomes from COVID-19. 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.
Note that this information was directly from CDC website:Obesity, Race/Ethnicity, and COVID-19 | Overweight & Obesity | CDC It is very important that everyone maintain mitigative measures to protect themselves and love ones from Covid-19 as much as possible.
If you are high risk, to include the elderly and those with weakened immune systems due to chronic conditions, maintain higher consideration of wearing masks and social distancing when in public.
If you are not up to date on your Covid-19 vaccinations and/or boosters, get your vaccinations ASAP!!
