Overweight populations linked to high Covid19 death rates

[yorkie]

Why the UK has one of the highest Covid-19 death rates in the world | ITV News

Places with the highest obesity rates are among those hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, a new report suggests. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

Obesity has been linked to a higher risk of severe Covid-19 and death from the disease.

And a World Obesity Federation report claims that around nine in 10 Covid-19 deaths have occurred in countries with high obesity rates.

This includes the UK which has the third-highest Covid death rate in the world and the fourth-highest obesity rate.

The report, which has analysed obesity rates in countries around the world as well as Covid-19 deaths, also says that the death rate is ten times higher in countries where 50% or more of the population is overweight.

The authors said that 2.2 million of the 2.5 million global deaths were in countries with high levels of obesity.

They added that countries with low levels of obesity do not have high death rates, but other factors could also be at play.

Covid deaths high in countries with more overweight people, says report

Governments urged to prioritise obese people for vaccinations over greater risk of death from coronavirus

www.theguardian.com

The issue is not just obesity, but levels of weight that many assume are now normal in many countries. Death rates are 10 times higher in those where more than half the adults had a body mass index (BMI) of more than 25kg/m2 – the point at which normal weight tips into overweight.

Among countries where more than half the adult population is overweight, Belgium has the highest level of deaths, followed by Slovenia and the UK. Italy and Portugal are 5th and 6th, while the US is 8th.

Vietnam, by contrast, has the lowest lowest level of overweight in the population and the second lowest Covid death rate in the world.

This is what many of us suspected all along!

Other studies looked at correlations between harsh lockdowns vs death rates and found there to be no evidence that lockdown measures were associated with lower death rates.

People try to go on about the excellent track & trace systems in places like Singapore and South Korea, ignoring the fact that such intrusive systems could never be implemented in western European countries, while ignoring the relatively low death rates in places like India.

So, the response of the UK Government, egged on by lockdown enthusiasts, to a virus that is hugely linked to populations being overweight is to encourage people to become less fit, to make more people overweight, to make people unable to carry out their usual exercise and to impose suggestions that exercise should be limited to "once per day" or "only an hour a day" which is absurd.

It's time to get outdoor sports reopened NOW and indoor gyms should follow within a week. Anything else is totally unacceptable and demonstrates how completely out of touch this Government is by pandering to hysterical lockdown enthusiasts.

If the lockdown enthusiasts want to stay at home and make themselves unfit, that's their choice, but they have no right to make others unfit, and to cause immense harm to an entire generation of young people; many children are getting little to no exercise and hardly any children are getting adequate levels of exercise during this lockdown.

The current situation is absolutely insane!

 

[bramling]

Why the UK has one of the highest Covid-19 death rates in the world | ITV News

Places with the highest obesity rates are among those hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, a new report suggests. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

Covid deaths high in countries with more overweight people, says report

Governments urged to prioritise obese people for vaccinations over greater risk of death from coronavirus

www.theguardian.com

This is what many of us suspected all along!

Other studies looked at correlations between harsh lockdowns vs death rates and found there to be no evidence that lockdown measures were associated with lower death rates.

People try to go on about the excellent track & trace systems in places like Singapore and South Korea, ignoring the fact that such intrusive systems could never be implemented in western European countries, while ignoring the relatively low death rates in places like India.

So, the response of the UK Government, egged on by lockdown enthusiasts, to a virus that is hugely linked to populations being overweight is to encourage people to become less fit, to make more people overweight, to make people unable to carry out their usual exercise and to impose suggestions that exercise should be limited to "once per day" or "only an hour a day" which is absurd.

It's time to get outdoor sports reopened NOW and indoor gyms should follow within a week. Anything else is totally unacceptable and demonstrates how completely out of touch this Government is by pandering to hysterical lockdown enthusiasts.

If the lockdown enthusiasts want to stay at home and make themselves unfit, that's their choice, but they have no right to make others unfit, and to cause immense harm to an entire generation of young people; many children are getting little to no exercise and hardly any children are getting adequate levels of exercise during this lockdown.

The current situation is absolutely insane!

Yes it’s insane that the policy to “save the NHS” is actually making people unhealthy. Every single one of the shielding people in my immediate work have put on a massive amount of weight since last March.

 

[yorksrob]

Lockdown certainly isn't conducive to being less fat, in my experience.

 

[bramling]

Lockdown certainly isn't conducive to being less fat, in my experience.

Same here.

 

[yorkie]

Agreed.

I've probably spent a similar amount of time exercising compared to 'normal' and during the summer there was a period of time when I was spending considerably more time exercising.

However I was denied the ability to play football and instead replaced this with walking, so was not able to get anywhere near the same level of effect. A fit person will not feel out of breath from walking for many hours and will not at any point be working their heart hard enough to gain the benefits that vigorous exercise produces.

I have managed to avoid putting weight on, but I do not feel as fit as I normally would.

I am trying to avoid cycling this month and walking/jogging/running instead to get myself ready for the 29th of March, but this is an insane situation. And not everyone has the time or inclination to do this.

I made a post in the Return to Education thread about the health crisis that is affecting children; many children have done little to no exercise in the last year and this is an absolute ticking time bomb.

I am now having to break bad news to kids who desperately want to play football, telling them their game is not able to resume until 6 weeks from now, by which time it will be 12½ months since they last had the opportunity to play. While some are desperate to resume, others have lost interest, saying they are now in a new routine of playing computer games online every evening and don't want to go back to playing sport any time soon.

This situation is absolutely scandalous.

Why aren't more people speaking up against this?

Why are we allowing hysterical lockdown enthusiasts to have such a profound negative impact on the health of the nation, and especially young people?

 

[py_megapixel]

A lot of people I know have been specifically missing swimming as a form of exercise. Swimming is very easy to make Covid-secure - even pre Covid a lot of people were pre-booking their sessions so all that's needed is to have everyone pre-book and limit numbers to make sure the pool never gets too crowded.

 

[yorkie]

A lot of people I know have been specifically missing swimming as a form of exercise. Swimming is very easy to make Covid-secure - even pre Covid a lot of people were pre-booking their sessions so all that's needed is to have everyone pre-book and limit numbers to make sure the pool never gets too crowded.

And then there is this too:

Coronavirus - how to stay safe when returning to the pool

As pools reopen this week, here's how to stay safe.

www.runnersworld.com

'We have checked with our national leads who confirm that coronavirus would be inactivated at the levels of chlorine used in swimming pools.

The World Health Organisation recommended chlorination level of 15mg.min/litre is sufficient to kill non-enveloped viruses such as poliovirus, rotavirus and coxsackievirus, and an enveloped virus such as Covid-19 would be inactivated at even lower levels, the document says.

It's an insane situation.

 

[Watershed]

Why aren't more people speaking up against this?

Why are we allowing hysterical lockdown enthusiasts to have such a profound negative impact on the health of the nation, and especially young people?

It has become normalised over the last year.

Lots of people believe that the current extreme restrictions are the direct cause of cases dropping. The government is of course gladly egging them on in this belief.

Anyone who dares to suggest that that significantly reduced restrictions would achieve substantially the same outcome, is labelled a "Covid denier" or "anti-vaxxer".

 

[yorkie]

Anyone who dares to suggest that that significantly reduced restrictions would achieve substantially the same outcome, is labelled a "Covid denier" or "anti-vaxxer".

And on that subject, see my post in the vaccine progress thread!

 

[WelshBluebird]

I mean, it isn't like lockdowns etc have caused us to be a generally overweight country though - that was already a long standing problem.
Sure for some people it hasn't helped, but I'd happily argue that some other people are more active now than they ever were (I certainly am!).
Regardless this idea that somehow lockdown is destroying our health and making us all fat isn't really fair. As a country we were already in that situation largely.

 

[Watershed]

I mean, it isn't like lockdowns etc have caused us to be a generally overweight country though - that was already a long standing problem.
Sure for some people it hasn't helped, but I'd happily argue that some other people are more active now than they ever were (I certainly am!).
Regardless this idea that somehow lockdown is destroying our health and making us all fat isn't really fair. As a country we were already in that situation largely.

That's like arguing that smokers shouldn't quit - after all, their lungs are already full of tar, so why bother?!

 

[yorksrob]

this idea that somehow lockdown is destroying our health and making us all fat isn't really fair.

Whilst the situation existed to an extent previously, lockdown has greatly exacerbated it and I say it is fair to say lockdown is destroying our health.

 

[yorkie]

That's like arguing that smokers shouldn't quit - after all, their lungs are already full of tar, so why bother?!

Whilst the situation existed to an extent previously, lockdown has greatly exacerbated it and I say it is fair to say lockdown is destroying our health.

Exactly! Thank you both for saying exactly what I was thinking!

I mean, it isn't like lockdowns etc have caused us to be a generally overweight country though...

No, but see the replies above mine to see what I think of this statement.

- that was already a long standing problem.

Which is being made worse!

Sure for some people it hasn't helped

This is a huge understatement; did you read my posts and did you read the link about the study in Bradford? I don't see how anyone could have read that study and come out with this as a response, so I can only assume you have not read it. I urge you to do so.

, but I'd happily argue that some other people are more active now than they ever were (I certainly am!).

I addressed that in my post; yes some people are walking more but not everyone is, and many people are effectively doing less exercise (even if spending more time exercising).

But crucially young people in particular are doing a lot less exercise; we are creating a ticking time bomb if we have a geneartion that grows up normalising playing computer games every day instead of sporting activities. Many kids are getting out of the exercise habit. While some are frustrated at the current situation and are keen to resume, many are simply losing interest in sporting activities and are quite happy to spend every evening after school playing computer games. Some even play computer games throughout the day as their parents can't make them do schoolwork!

Regardless this idea that somehow lockdown is destroying our health and making us all fat isn't really fair.

I refer you to what I actually said and I stand by what I said.

As a country we were already in that situation largely.

Again I refer you to what I have actually said. We are making a serious situation even worse!

 

[kristiang85]

Regardless this idea that somehow lockdown is destroying our health and making us all fat isn't really fair. As a country we were already in that situation largely.

Eh? There are so many health damages caused by lockdown:

- Less walking to/and from work or terminals to get to work.
- A lot of people do actually believe being out and exercising is dangerous, so don't do it. Also those who need groups to motivate themselves lose that.
- People who are used to going to gyms haven't been going, and with no equipment at home aren't getting their usual exercise.
- People are eating more takeaways as this is about the only 'treat' left.
- People are drinking more at home, which also leads to increases in weight (as well as alcohol-related issues).
- People being inside more get less vitamin D from outside.
- Obviously there's the whole mental health aspect we've gone through many times on here, plus this can also lead to weight gain from related aspects of that (comfort eating, drinking, etc.).

I could go on with the health harms to individuals that lockdowns cause.

 

[Ianno87]

Lockdown certainly isn't conducive to being less fat, in my experience.

The immediate availability of biscuits in my vicinity certainly doesn't help...

 

[Richard Scott]

Eh? There are so many health damages caused by lockdown:

- Less walking to/and from work or terminals to get to work.
- A lot of people do actually believe being out and exercising is dangerous, so don't do it. Also those who need groups to motivate themselves lose that.
- People who are used to going to gyms haven't been going, and with no equipment at home aren't getting their usual exercise.
- People are eating more takeaways as this is about the only 'treat' left.
- People are drinking more at home, which also leads to increases in weight (as well as alcohol-related issues).
- People being inside more get less vitamin D from outside.
- Obviously there's the whole mental health aspect we've gone through many times on here, plus this can also lead to weight gain from related aspects of that (comfort eating, drinking, etc.).

I could go on with the health harms to individuals that lockdowns cause.

I do a lot less exercise even though I'm in work. Used to go out in the evening and see people and almost always walked. Not doing that at the moment. Almost always hit 10,000 steps a day before lockdown. Other issue is have much more work to do in the evening so don't have time to go out. Luckily don't overeat so not really in danger of falling into overweight category but plenty of people do and are falling into that category.

 

[Bantamzen]

I mean, it isn't like lockdowns etc have caused us to be a generally overweight country though - that was already a long standing problem.
Sure for some people it hasn't helped, but I'd happily argue that some other people are more active now than they ever were (I certainly am!).
Regardless this idea that somehow lockdown is destroying our health and making us all fat isn't really fair. As a country we were already in that situation largely.

Why isn't it fair? Millions of people have been told to stay at home, work from home, only go out once a day for exercise, and when they did they risked being told to go home or get fined by the Police. What part of that is fair?

Let me give you example, which is me. On an ordinary working day in the office I would walk close to 3 miles a day between home, the trains & the office. In addition I would walk at least another mile taking regular breaks from the desk, making coffee, going to the breakout area / restaurant for lunch. And quite often if the weather was nice I would add 2-3 more miles walking longer sections home instead of taking the train all the way. So an average day could see me walking 4-6 miles a day without missing a beat because it was broken up throughout the day. Now my commute is from the dining table to, erm the dining table.

Now I know what you are going to say, well you could do that anyway. But in reality I don't. I do try to nip out at lunchtime if the weather is half decent, well at least sometimes because with other distractions at home its way easier not to. At least at my desk I felt compelled to get away several times a day, now I find myself working longer and moving less. And I will be far from alone. Other people working from home will have things like kids with them, perhaps people they care for etc etc. So I think its very fair to say that restrictions have contributed to people's poorer wellbeing.

 

[ainsworth74]

Yes lockdown has been quite interesting for me in many respects. I started doing more walking than I had been doing but over the last few months I've really tried to step it up a notch. Whilst I don't think it's having a massive effect on my weight (I was overweight before lockdown to be clear!) as yet it certainly is improving my fitness. When I started, walking up a steep hill would leave me out of breath and needing to recover for a thirty seconds or so whereas now I'm getting to the top of the same hill and whilst I'm still breathing heavily it's a case of take a couple of deep breaths and carry on rather than needing to pause (which means I'm just finding more hills to add to my walk to the point where I need to pause again in the hope that before too long I'll be getting up them more easily as well! ). Part of my reasoning for doing that has very much been that it's been quite clear for a while now that being overweight (quite apart from being bad for you in general) is likely a big factor in the people that are younger and either dying of Covid or having a very hard time with the disease.

So I'm not entirely convinced that lockdown necessarily means that you will get less fit but I speak from the very privileged position of having access to woodland, hills, open fields for my walking/exercise within five minutes of my front door and having no care responsibilities to worry about (of children or adults!). Someone who is in a large suburban area of a city or town, someone who might need to drive or use public transport to get to somewhere where they can have good exercise is obviously at a massive disadvantage when it comes to exercising. It's a lot easier to get out of the house for an hour and half's walk on a Saturday morning when I'm not stuck traipsing around streets for the whole time or having to drive for a period of time before even getting to the proper exercise.

But, more generally, I have to say that whilst I might have been content with the restrictions (in law and guidance, which of course, were different) during the first lockdown on exercise I do think that, certainly for outdoor exercise, the restrictions (especially the guidance side of that equation) during the subsequent periods of lockdown or higher end of the tier system have been extremely counter productive. It should have been clear, throughout, that exercising outdoors could happen at any distance from your home via any means of available travel. I appreciate that, most likely, the reasons were to try and make it easier for the police to enforce but I'm far from convinced that that's actually a good way of deciding policy. Indoor exercise at gyms and swimming pools I'm a bit more agnostic on. But I'm far from convinced that it would have been impossible for at least some to open in a safe manner even if meant significant reductions in their capacity and therefore pre-booking.

 

[kristiang85]

I do a lot less exercise even though I'm in work. Used to go out in the evening and see people and almost always walked. Not doing that at the moment. Almost always hit 10,000 steps a day before lockdown. Other issue is have much more work to do in the evening so don't have time to go out. Luckily don't overeat so not really in danger of falling into overweight category but plenty of people do and are falling into that category.

Yes this is my situation too!

Though I've definiterly put weight on, despite taking very long walks at weekends.

 

[Scotrail12]

And yet gyms can't open.

#Irony

 

[Mag_seven]

I am doing more long walks than I ever did and have lost some weight. I also only have two meals a day now (I now tend to skip lunch) which is a legacy of the first lockdown when we were encouraged to shop as infrequently as possible and there were food shortages due to panic buying.

 

[Crossover]

Yes lockdown has been quite interesting for me in many respects. I started doing more walking than I had been doing but over the last few months I've really tried to step it up a notch. Whilst I don't think it's having a massive effect on my weight (I was overweight before lockdown to be clear!) as yet it certainly is improving my fitness. When I started, walking up a steep hill would leave me out of breath and needing to recover for a thirty seconds or so whereas now I'm getting to the top of the same hill and whilst I'm still breathing heavily it's a case of take a couple of deep breaths and carry on rather than needing to pause (which means I'm just finding more hills to add to my walk to the point where I need to pause again in the hope that before too long I'll be getting up them more easily as well! ). Part of my reasoning for doing that has very much been that it's been quite clear for a while now that being overweight (quite apart from being bad for you in general) is likely a big factor in the people that are younger and either dying of Covid or having a very hard time with the disease.

I can relate to this, too. I started doing a lot of walks in the first lockdown and would be out for a couple of hours on some days. As we progressed into winter, I have been less inclined to get out and about, a lot of the paths I found last April were mudbaths anyway and I haven't been seeing the people I was seeing because of this third lockdown.

As we move into the better weather, a colleague has also decided they need to do more exercise and we have resumed our lunchtime walks near the office in the last 2-3 weeks (again, also in the privileged position to be able to do this - part of the walk takes in a disused railway line, too!) - aside from provising a physical boost from what can be, on some days, a sedentary job) it does help mentally, too

 

[Bantamzen]

It would be interesting to have more data on this, in particular around any pre-existing conditions associated with weight. I'm sure there are plenty of other mitigations that could be applied to help people more at risk become less so.

 

[bramling]

I mean, it isn't like lockdowns etc have caused us to be a generally overweight country though - that was already a long standing problem.
Sure for some people it hasn't helped, but I'd happily argue that some other people are more active now than they ever were (I certainly am!).
Regardless this idea that somehow lockdown is destroying our health and making us all fat isn't really fair. As a country we were already in that situation largely.

Whilst it's absolutely true this country wasn't in the best collective shape before 2020, the last year really has not helped. Personally I tend to be extremely active over the summer, less so over winter. Having essentially missed most of last summer has really made a mess of things for me. Now the choice is essentially stuck indoors, or the same repertoire of local walks, all of which are like quagmires at the moment which reduces the appeal.

I'd simply kill to do something like one of the longer distance railway walks, however there's three factors which conspire against this at the moment
1) we're supposed to stay local - ignoring this wouldn't bother me, however it does add an extra complication to the day wondering if there'll be Derbyshire Police drones hovering over the car!
2) knowing that chances are anything like that will be packed at the moment
3) the biggest one, inability to stay overnight in hotels.

 

[TPO]

Another issue is the lack of toilets. For those of us who have gut problems (and also quite a few older men) the lack of a predictably available loo en-route or nearby (either a public loo or one at a shop/cafe/station etc) is a real barrier to being out taking exercise.

Closure of public loos during lockdown is a really retrograde step and any TOC which closes station toilets using the COVEXCUSE rationale should be hanging it's head in shame.

TPO

 

[yorkie]

Eh? There are so many health damages caused by lockdown:

- Less walking to/and from work or terminals to get to work.
- A lot of people do actually believe being out and exercising is dangerous, so don't do it. Also those who need groups to motivate themselves lose that.
- People who are used to going to gyms haven't been going, and with no equipment at home aren't getting their usual exercise.
- People are eating more takeaways as this is about the only 'treat' left.
- People are drinking more at home, which also leads to increases in weight (as well as alcohol-related issues).
- People being inside more get less vitamin D from outside.
- Obviously there's the whole mental health aspect we've gone through many times on here, plus this can also lead to weight gain from related aspects of that (comfort eating, drinking, etc.).

I could go on with the health harms to individuals that lockdowns cause.

Good points!

Also this is a good interview:

At around the 5min mark, Lord Sumption makes some excellent points to add to what you have said above (some of them overlap of course).

If anyone is interested, I strongly recommend listening to this interview. The part relevant to this point lasts around 2-3 minutes, though it's worth listening to more if anyone can spare the time.

Jonathan Sumption was once the epitome of the Establishment — a brilliant barrister who represented the Government in the Hutton enquiry, Supreme Court Justice, supporter of the Remain campaign and esteemed historian of the Hundred Years’ War. But then Covid happened.

Over the past year, his unabashed criticism of lockdown policies has turned him into something of a renegade. It is development that mystifies him; as he sees it, his views have always been mainstream liberal, and it is the world around that has changed. In the course of our conversation, the retired judge doesn’t hold back.

He asserts that it is becoming morally acceptable to ignore Covid regulations, and even warns that a campaign of “civil disobedience” has already begun.

Whilst it's absolutely true this country wasn't in the best collective shape before 2020, the last year really has not helped. Personally I tend to be extremely active over the summer, less so over winter. Having essentially missed most of last summer has really made a mess of things for me. Now the choice is essentially stuck indoors, or the same repertoire of local walks, all of which are like quagmires at the moment which reduces the appeal.

I'd simply kill to do something like one of the longer distance railway walks, however there's three factors which conspire against this at the moment
1) we're supposed to stay local - ignoring this wouldn't bother me, however it does add an extra complication to the day wondering if there'll be Derbyshire Police drones hovering over the car!
2) knowing that chances are anything like that will be packed at the moment
3) the biggest one, inability to stay overnight in hotels.

Yes these are all deterrents to doing long walks.

However for anyone who is eligible to be in a support bubble, one way around this is to arrange to see your support bubble, and consider going to a mutually convenient location for example it could be a location half way between you and your bubble, where you could go for a long walk.

If someone drives somewhere (or takes public transport) and goes for a long walk, this is not illegal but the longer the journey is to the location in question, and perhaps the shorter the duration of the walk, the less easy it would be to 'justify' it and there is the risk it could be deemed by the police to be worthy of a fine (even if that is not correct).

Again this unfairly discriminates against people who do not live on the doorstep of good walking routes, and the whole messaging is centring around encouraging people to do anything but get exercise. Those of us who do want to get exercise have to get around any potential fear of being persecuted by overzealous police as well as overcoming any potential guilt for not following the "stay home" messaging to the letter.

I think it is a personal decision for each person but an increasing number of people are likely to, as Lord Sumption says, make a decision not to submit to the fears induced by the Government and are increasingly more likely to ignore at least some aspects of the guidance.

 

[Mag_seven]

Good points!

Also this is a good interview:

At around the 5min mark, Lord Sumption makes some excellent points to add to what you have said above (some of them overlap of course).

If anyone is interested, I strongly recommend listening to this interview. The part relevant to this point lasts around 2-3 minutes, though it's worth listening to more if anyone can spare the time.




Yes these are all deterrents to doing long walks.

However for anyone who is eligible to be in a support bubble, one way around this is to arrange to see your support bubble, and consider going to a mutually convenient location for example it could be a location half way between you and your bubble, where you could go for a long walk.

If someone drives somewhere (or takes public transport) and goes for a long walk, this is not illegal but the longer the journey is to the location in question, and perhaps the shorter the duration of the walk, the less easy it would be to 'justify' it and there is the risk it could be deemed by the police to be worthy of a fine (even if that is not correct).

Again this unfairly discriminates against people who do not live on the doorstep of good walking routes, and the whole messaging is centring around encouraging people to do anything but get exercise. Those of us who do want to get exercise have to get around any potential fear of being persecuted by overzealous police as well as overcoming any potential guilt for not following the "stay home" messaging to the letter.

I think it is a personal decision for each person but an increasing number of people are likely to, as Lord Sumption says, make a decision not to submit to the fears induced by the Government and are increasingly more likely to ignore at least some aspects of the guidance.

Oddly enough I was watching an interview with the same Lord Sumption that was recorded in July last year. And right on cue from 2.34 to 3.04 he suspects that the high death rates in the UK compared to other European countries is due to things such as high levels of obesity and heart disease.

 

[johnnychips]

The students whom I teach, in a special needs environment, and have problems going out and exercising anyway are definitely returning fat. No other word for it. Just hope we will be allowed to take them out for walks outside the college grounds soon.

 

[westv]

I tried om my work suit trousers last November. For some strange reason they had shrunk and don't fit me anymore.

 

[Crossover]

I tried om my work suit trousers last November. For some strange reason they had shrunk and don't fit me anymore.

Just around the time of the first lockdown, there was a spike in water temperatures and everyones clothes shrank in the wash