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In reply to the discussion: Is weight a factor for severe Covid? It's not clear! [View all]Johnny2X2X
(19,066 posts)I think I could have worded it better, but yeah, people do want to hate overweight people and the irony is that 3/4s of the country is overweight, so those doing the hating don't realize that they're included in these stats them selves in most cases.
I myself struggle with my weight, but maintain a fairly healthy weight, but would be considered overweight, just short of obese.
When people see that stat, 78% of US Covid patients are overweight or obese, it absolutely must include the fact that almost 72% of Americans are overweight or obese. In fact, with Covid, I'd bet that 72% will be closer to 75% or over when the new data comes out because the restrictions have clearly caused weight gain. So we could be looking at a 75% overweight or obese country where 78% of Covid hospitalizations are overweight or obese. That's basically about what you'd expect.
Now it might explain why it's worse in the US vs other countries, but in the US, 78% of Covid hospitalizations being overweight/obese with a 72% overweight/obese population is not a massive statistical difference.
People think of Covid patients dying and they think of massive 350 lb patients, when in fact this 78% metric includes a ton of people who are like 5-10, 180, 5-4, 130, 5-11, 185 etc etc.
Obesity is an epidemic in the US, it's a national health crisis, hating on "fat" people makes it worse, not better. And we're to the point where people don't even know that they themselves are considered overweight.