Dear Reader:

SARS-Cov-2, the virus behind Covid-19 wreaks havoc in people with weakened immune system because of advancing age and/ or pre-existing health conditions. Globally (worldometer), the death rate in people younger than 50 is 0.5%, in people older than 70, it is 8%, 16 times greater.

In New York City (updated April 21, Wikipedia) 44%of the deaths were of ages 0-44, 22.5% were of deaths were of ages 45-64, and 73% of deaths were of ages 65 and older. Why such a higher rate of death in people 44 and younger in NYC?

www. msn. com/ en-us. news/us/azar lays part of the blame for covid-19 death toll on state of americans health today: “Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Sunday suggested that the underlying health conditions of Americans, in particular in minority communities, contributed significantly to the death toll from the coronavirus. It is a population with significant unhealthy comorbidities..” he told CNN Jake Tapper on ‘State of the Union.’..

African Americans make up about 13% of the population in those places but 27% of Covid-19 deaths for which race and ethnicity is known”.

www. cdc. gov/ vitalsigns/ aahealth, a publication prior to Covid-19: “new analysis shows that younger African Americans are living or dying of many conditions typically found in white Americans at older ages. The difference shows up in African Americans in their 20s, 30s, and 40s for diseases and causes of death. When diseases start early, they can lead to death earlier. Chronic diseases and some of their risk factors may be silent or not diagnosed during these early years..

African Americans ages 18-49 are 2 times as likely to die from heart disease than whites. African Americans ages 35-64 years are 50% more likely to have high blood pressure than whites.”

Wikipedia on African Americans in New York City: “According to the 2010 Census, New York City had the largest population of black residents of any U.S. city, with over 2 million within the city’s boundaries.. more black people than the entire state of California..”

nymag. com/ intelligencer/2020/03/ coronavirus and its high mortality rate among older patients:

“With around 23% of the population over 65 years old, Italy has one of the world’s oldest populations, and the coronavirus is taking a horrific toll among the elderly… The dramatic rise in mortality rates among older populations can be attributed largely to two factors. First, the immune system becomes weaker as we age, with infections becoming more severe, and taking longer to recover from. Second, older people are more likely to have underlying health concerns: of the 105 Italians who had died from the coronavirus as of March 4, two thirds had at least three preexisting conditions, the most common of which were hypertension, coronary heart disease, and diabetes…

In a World Health Organization report on the outbreak in China, researchers found that the case fatality rate for people with no chronic disease was 1.4%, But for those with cancer, it rose to 7.6%. For those with chronic respiratory disease, it was 8%. For those with cardiovascular disease, it was 13.2%

More, later.

anita