Why is New Orleans' coronavirus death rate seven times New York's? Obesity is a factor

[snoop1130]

Why is New Orleans' coronavirus death rate seven times New York's? Obesity is a factor

By Brad Brooks

 

FILE PHOTO: A view of Bourbon Street amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - The coronavirus has been a far deadlier threat in New Orleans than the rest of the United States, with a per-capita death rate much higher than in 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.

 

“We’re just sicker,” said Rebekah Gee, who until January was the Health Secretary for Louisiana and now heads up 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.”

 

Along with New York and Seattle, New Orleans has emerged as one of the early U.S. hotspots for the coronavirus, making it a national test case for how to control and treat the disease. Chief among the concerns raised by doctors working in the Louisiana city is the death rate, which is seven times that of New York and ten times that of Seattle, based on publicly reported data.

 

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.

 

Some 97% of those killed by COVID-19 in Louisiana had a preexisting condition, according to the state health department. Diabetes was seen in 40% of the deaths, obesity in 25%, chronic kidney disease in 23% and cardiac problems in 21%.

 

New Orleans, which so far has reported more than 270 coronavirus deaths, could be a harbinger for the potential toll the pandemic could take in other parts of the South and Midwest that also have high rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.

 

A host of other factors could contribute to New Orleans’ high death rate for coronavirus, ranging from access to healthcare and hospital quality, to the prevalence of other conditions including lung disease, health officials say.

 

But they also add that it is clear that obesity-related conditions are playing a role in the deaths. That could be a warning sign for the United States at large, where chronic obesity is more common than in other developed countries, they said.

 

Hospitals are reporting cases across the generations -mothers and daughters, fathers and sons - being intubated and cared for in the same intensive care units (ICUs), said Tracey Moffatt, the chief nursing officer at Ochsner Health, the largest healthcare provider in Louisiana. The prevalence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease in New Orleans and Louisiana plays into that, she said.

 

Those family members often suffered from the same medical conditions before becoming sick, leaving them similarly vulnerable to the coronavirus despite their age gaps.

 

“We had a case where a mom was already in the ICU and the daughter, who was obese, came in,” she said. “The daughter asked staff to wheel her by her mom’s room so she could say goodbye before she herself was intubated. We knew the mother was going to pass away.”

 

Both patients suffered from obesity.

 

‘MORE VULNERABLE’

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released for the first time this week a report showing that 78% of COVID-19 patients in ICUs in the United States had an underlying health condition, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung disease.

 

The CDC report was based on a sample of under 6% of reported coronavirus infections, but doctors in Louisiana said it was consistent with what they are seeing, and it is in line with what other countries like Italy and China have faced.

 

Those percentages, said Dr. Joseph Kanter, an emergency department doctor and the top public health official in New Orleans, are likely similar in cities across the United States.

 

“What we worry about here is that we have more people in our communities with those conditions,” he said. “We’re more vulnerable than other communities, and the number of deaths we’ve seen illustrates that.”

 

The New Orleans metropolitan statistical area ranks among the worst in the United States for the percentage of residents with diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity, a Reuters analysis of CDC data shows. An estimated 39% have high blood pressure, 36% are obese and about 15% have diabetes.

 

Nationally, the median is 32% with high blood pressure, 31% obese and 11% with diabetes.

 

“The burden of disease in Louisiana and the Deep South is higher than in rest of the country,” said Gee. “Invariably that means that the South is going to be hard hit by this.”

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-02

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[Basil B]

And nothing to do with the ethnic demographics and poverty??? 

[Lacessit]

Cajun and Creole cuisine. i reckon I put on about 5 kg in the week I was there.

[Bluespunk]

Hardly a surprise, as obesity can cause other health issues.
 

Could be Covid-19 is very dangerous for those with such preexisting health issues. 

Edited April 2, 2020 by Bluespunk

[Andrew65]

8 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Hardly a surprise, as obesity can cause other health issues.
 

Could be Covid-19 is very dangerous for those with such preexisting health issues. 

There must be lotsa fatties in NYC. Much better education & healthcare/more affluent, maybe?

[Cricky]

The idiots held a Mardi Gras last week.

 

That would boost the numbers

[jmccarty]

The virus is technically selective!

[bartolo57]

I think the Thai diet and general fitness of Thai people has held them in good stead with this vicious virus. The American diet however will prove the absolute opposite. 

[Bluespunk]

27 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

There must be lotsa fatties in NYC. Much better education & healthcare/more affluent, maybe?

No idea what NYC’s obesity rates are. So couldn’t really say. Better healthcare is always a plus though. 

[impulse]

Could just be a function of how they select candidates for testing.  In some places, test kits and personnel are scarce and they only test people who show symptoms.  In other places, they're testing anyone who presents themselves for a test.  Which, in some places, limits the tests to people who can afford them.

 

If you only test people who have symptoms, your death rate is going to be higher...

 

And, of course, Louisiana is notorious for being poor and rather corrupt. 

 

[jimmjam]

58 minutes ago, Basil B said:

And nothing to do with the ethnic demographics and poverty??? 

Exactly

[MisterTee]

2 hours ago, Andrew65 said:

There must be lotsa fatties in NYC. Much better education & healthcare/more affluent, maybe?

Been to the US recently, Andrew?

Obesity has become synonymous with poverty in many areas of the country.

[nobodysfriend]

12 hours ago, bartolo57 said:

I think the Thai diet and general fitness of Thai people has held them in good stead with this vicious virus. The American diet however will prove the absolute opposite. 

[Langsuan Man]

Duh, New York didn't have a Mardi Gras parade, think that may have had something to do with the difference   

[Cricky]

8 minutes ago, Langsuan Man said:

Duh, New York didn't have a Mardi Gras parade, think that may have had something to do with the difference   

New Orleans had the mardi gras.

 

I expect this is why the death rate is so high.

 

The post is highlighting New Orleans death rate.

[scubascuba3]

When i went to San Fransisco and round about i could not believe the amount of extremely fat people, I'd never encountered it before, they can only blame themselves and their fat family and friends (caveat that something like 1% have a medical condition causing the fatness)

[Stargeezr]

How about the super sizing at some fast food companies, that

may be part of the problem. In some cities there are more fast food

places to eat, than restaurants.  Well that will be part of why so many

are dying.

Geezer

[Tropposurfer]

Easy to check world statistic: Poor people have far worse health outcomes that affluent ones. Louisiana has a heck of a lot of low income folks (poor state). By the same token New Orleans has a high percentage of black folks. Black folks fit into the world health stat's for high illness percentages.

As for the issue of obesity; A great way to console yourself if you are part of an invisible disempowered demographic is to eat, releases all sort of feel good chemicals not to mentions the buzz from fat, sugar, and sodium. 'Eating feelings' is at plague proportions in our world.

[Andrew65]

13 hours ago, MisterTee said:

Been to the US recently, Andrew?

Obesity has become synonymous with poverty in many areas of the country.

Though nothing like the West, yet, you see a helluva lot more overweight Thais than in times gone by. I was first here/there in 1985.

I've never been to the States.

[robblok]

I wonder why so many don't believe that obesity is a factor in the death rate, been said before in other countries too. In my country they also said that obese people are at a higher risk.

 

I guess a lot of people don't want to believe the spare tyre they are lugging around has health risks.

[Sheryl]

A post with a video from an unreliable source containing quack nonsense has been removed.

 

 

[bristolboy]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

When i went to San Fransisco and round about i could not believe the amount of extremely fat people, I'd never encountered it before, they can only blame themselves and their fat family and friends (caveat that something like 1% have a medical condition causing the fatness)

Really? This is the CDC obesity map for 2018

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html

 

 

 

[christophe75]

2 hours ago, VYCM said:

New Orleans had the mardi gras.

 

I expect this is why the death rate is so high.

 

The post is highlighting New Orleans death rate.

 

You don't understand.

 

Mardi gras could explain the infection rate...

 

Here they are talking about the death rate...

 

It's a fact that the virus kills... mostly old people and/or people who are... already sick.

 

Italy, France, Spain... are show cases (no need to talk about China, because it's impossible to trust their data).

 

Everybody who visited USA... know because they saw that insane obesity is a real and widespread problem there...

 

Add cholesterol, diabetes, heart problems etc.

 

It's a morbid festival.

[lannarebirth]

If it was my time and I had to go, New Orleans is the place I would choose. Most fun, and best food to be had on the American continent.  RIP Ellis Marsalis:

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/02/825717204/ellis-marsalis-patriarch-of-new-orleans-most-famous-musical-family-has-died

Edited April 3, 2020 by lannarebirth

[hotchilli]

16 hours ago, Andrew65 said:

There must be lotsa fatties in NYC. Much better education & healthcare/more affluent, maybe?

Try McAllen in Texas almost 50% chronically obese population.

But they love their food and lifestyle and refuse to change their eating habits...

 

[scubascuba3]

44 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Really? This is the CDC obesity map for 2018

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html

 

 

 

It's all relative, map doesn't surprise me at all

[Nyezhov]

17 hours ago, Basil B said:

And nothing to do with the ethnic demographics and poverty??? 

It does. Just no one will out and say it. 

[Nyezhov]

2 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

How about the super sizing at some fast food companies, that

may be part of the problem. In some cities there are more fast food

places to eat, than restaurants.

Yes, because the super sized triple big macs just leap off the counter and hurl themselves down your gullet. Sort of like how that rifle climbs out of the gun safe and kills folks. 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2020 by Nyezhov

[Tayaout]

17 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

No idea what NYC’s obesity rates are. So couldn’t really say. Better healthcare is always a plus though. 

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html

brfss_2018_obesity-overall.svg

[Iron Tongue]

5 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Interesting.  I really would have guessed that the Philippinos would be fatter than Thais.