outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

Something I thought worth mentioning is the remarkable fact that 66%-80% of all COVID-patienst in Dutch hospitals and in ICU are obese. Has this been noticed anywhere else? Experts think it could be because people with diabetes are more at risk. Still a very high percentage imo.

From this: "‘Almost all the patients on an IC ward are overweight,’ Peter van der Voort of Groningen University’s teaching hospital said. ‘We don’t know why, but it is very noticeable.’"

In Italy, obesity is the most common comorbidity.

Visceral fat reduces lung tidal volume. And adipose tissue is a endocrine organ, producing more proinflammatory cytokines on its own.

I really wish I'd picked another drug to sedate me through the Trump presidency than alcohol, 7 kcal/g.

i have somehow lost weight during isolation, probably as my diet is now the healthiest diet anyone has ever had ever

(last night's found panettone excepted)

still overweight though. knew this would be a problem. knew it

I really wish I'd picked another drug to sedate me through the Trump presidency than alcohol, 7 kcal/g.

― Sanpaku, Monday, March 30, 2020 2:03 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Quitting drinking three months ago has done fuck all for me in this regard :-/

i have somehow lost weight during isolation, probably as my diet is now the healthiest diet anyone has ever had ever

I'm not quite there, but definitely the healthiest diet I've ever had.

I've had a very healthy diet over the last two weeks of lockdown. Unfortunately, I've also had 2-3 beers pretty much every day of that two weeks, so, well.

Ha I've also been 'using up' the really crappy chocolate / gift set things we got at Christmas and had shoved to the back of the cupboard. Needs must!

idk how y'all are doing it. I've been stress eating a ton and haven't found the time to go for a run. luckily I haven't seemed to gain any weight...yet. I probably have but my belt still fits the same

I've lost weight, but I think that's just been having healthier snacks (even if it's just posh flat chocolate) than the tub of biscuits at work. Christ knows my cycling has dropped off.

I'd already started down the path when I moved five months ago and joined a gym (dropped 30 pounds). But I've also--even though I suspect it's completely irrelevant; contraction depends solely on interaction--been taking acetaminophen-related medication two or three times a day and eating really well the past three weeks hoping that'd be a slight edge in not getting sick.

Our diet has been pretty consistent for the past few weeks. That is, not much has changed. What has changed is my exercise habits, but that's mostly because I run inside and, with the gym closed and the weather cold and shitty, I haven't been doing that. My wife (and sometimes my kids, for that matter), have stayed pretty active inside with online exercise classes, yoga and the like, plus the occasional walk outside (weather permitting). I (and I assume some other people) tend to lose weight under stress, so it all seems to be balancing out, for the time being. The hardest thing, in a way, is waiting until the end of the day to have a beer or two.

xpost I have no idea how well they've run the data on underlying chronic conditions. For example, it was hypothesized that one reason it took off so fast in China was because so many people there smoke, and one reason it hit men harder than women was because more men smoked there then women. Logical, but I don't know if anything concrete came of that. Same with obesity in Italy (or wherever). For example, the United States might have the fattest people, but it will take some time for the data to shake out to determine if that really makes a big difference. Being overweight, or smoking, and so on, are innately not good for you, so one might assume they are bad conditions for this, but I have no real idea.

2-week period where you feel fine but are very infectious

This is something I still don't get. If you can feel fine, but still be very infectious, and yet the easiest way to transmit, at least for community transmission, is afaict via droplet - that is, coughing and sneezing. But if you're coughing and sneezing, then you're not feeling fine, are you?

I did see a medical review thingy on twit that suggested that smokers weren't dying in the US at anywhere close to the rates suggested by China.

Even with all that, the stats still point firmly towards men getting worse outcomes, and you could argue that this is due to some/all related factors mentioned above but it is very strange as a persistent finding.

I thought I saw something that said men get it *slightly* worse but not significantly. Like, of this group in the study, 106 men to 100 women or something.

There may be a genetic component to it as well. Pure speculation on my part, of course.

There usually is. He said completely unscientifically.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30117-X/fulltext

This sex predisposition might be associated with the much higher smoking rate in men than in women in China (288 million men vs 12·6 million women were smokers in 2018). Of note, one study (preprint)5 found that although ACE2 expression was not significantly different between Asian and white people, men and women, or subgroups aged older and younger than 60 years, it was significantly higher in current smokers of Asian ethnicity than Asian non-smokers; although no difference was found between smokers and non-smokers who were white. Nonetheless, the current literature does not support smoking as a predisposing factor in men or any subgroup for infection with SARS-CoV-2.

O_o

Behavioural factors seem to make more sense.

idk how y'all are doing it. I've been stress eating a ton and haven't found the time to go for a run. luckily I haven't seemed to gain any weight...yet. I probably have but my belt still fits the same

― frogbs, Monday, March 30, 2020 8:12 AM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Things could have gone a whole different way if, during my last week in the wild, I had stocked up on chips and Oreos instead of rice and beans. Believe me, I was tempted.

My bf pointed out days ago that when he went out in public, women were wearing gloves and masks and men weren't. And men definitely weren't respecting a 6' distance from me yes in the grocery store.

Well, men *are* stupider and more prone to risky behavior.

Nothing more manly than being in the running for a Darwin Award, really.

My gf was listening to a thing from (I believe) a NYC ICU doc yesterday and he said that, anecdotally, he'd seen way more male covid patients than female. My gf speculated that it was because dudes were less hygienic in general, and I couldn't really disagree with that speculation.

All true.

xpost there are all those studies too about marriage and divorce in heterosexual couples and how men have more problematic health/don't live as long if they are not in a relationship.

I'm not fat (6'2", ~175 lbs), but I have Type 2 diabetes. Genetics, I guess; my dad had Type 1. I keep seeing these statements that diabetics are at higher risk for this than other folks, but I don't know how much that applies to me and can't be bothered worrying more.

I sneeze when I am feeling fine

men have more problematic health/don't live as long if they are not in a relationship

this suggests that ~real~ straight women are meant to go "no no dear, I will lovingly cook for you from scratch with fresh ingredients and lots of vegetables even though you complain about them and would rather eat ready meals and takeaways", whereas I've just been going, oh, fine, ready meal and no veg again, saves me effort and an argument so win-win, and have put on 10x more weight than he has of course

tl;dr I am an obese walrus and the 'vid's gonna get me

taking acetaminophen-related medication two or three times a day

if you feel fine why do this to your liver???

xp aps lol yes well that plus also women typically badger men to take better care of themselves, see the doctor, etc, taking on the labor like making appts and reminding them of things, filling rx, whatever "fussy" stuff masculine men can't be bothered with because it doesn't involve firearms and bbq.

yeah, F is generally good at taking care of himself but I always tell him to wash his hands when he comes home first thing or before touching me (ha!) and also he has to go to yearly check ups. So now I feel very vindicated about all the hand washing.

Protip 4 the manz: a red-hot bbq grill is grate for cauterizing a stump if you accidentally cut off a digit or limb and you don't have time to see a doctor about it (because you're polishing your guns or have some Madden to play).

Wouldn't it be great if this actually happened (the lawsuits, that is)?

http://theweek.com/speedreads/905601/fox-news-reportedly-fears-early-downplaying-covid19-leaves-open-lawsuits

Thx OL, will integrate that into my basement axe throwing routine.

xp

alex jones as precedent imo xp

Hungary passes law allowing Viktor Orban to rule by decree

smdh

Never let a good crisis go to waste.

For real, though, I'd love to kick Hungary out of the EU (not saying this because I'm Romanian, I swear).

I don't care if it's because you are Romanian tbf, my boot will be right next to yours kicking them out

I've been wondering if there's at least some small amount of protection for people in the socially regressive EU states by lieu of them being EU members? Obviously not everyone has the financial or social resources to flee, but...

xxp agree entirely

Impressed by the Czech response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhNo_IOPOtU

yeah, the US and other countries completely messed up communicating about masks.

'They're totally useless, also don't hoard them because healthcare providers will die without them.'

I think the message that they were useless was meant as a deterrent to buying them when medical staff were facing shortages but it doesn’t exactly engender trust.

Yeah, the initial (ongoing?) recommendation I thought was to leave the masks for the front line professionals, who need them more. Obviously if everyone wore masks that would help slow things down, but even then, only if you care, clean and replace the masks, which I doubt many people are doing. Staying home, washing hands and not touching your face remain the most effective ways to prevent getting sick, afaict.

the main message I got was "don't hoard them if you aren't sick, they're more important for keeping other people from catching what you have"

Not everyone needs a N95 just now. I'd feel a lot more comfortable my next grocery trip if everyone at least had a bandana (perhaps with some paper towel plies tossed in).

homemade face masks are better than nothing if you must go out.