( Reuters) – The coronavirus has actually been a far deadlier danger in New Orleans than the remainder of the United States, with a per-capita death rate two times that of New York City. Physicians, public health officials and available data say the Big Easy’s high levels of obesity and related conditions may be part of the problem.
” We’re just sicker,” said Rebekah Gee, who till January was the health secretary for Louisiana and now heads Louisiana State University’s healthcare services department. “We already had remarkable healthcare variations prior to this pandemic– one can only picture they are being amplified now.”
In Addition To New York and Seattle, New Orleans has become among the early U.S. locations for the coronavirus, making it a nationwide test case for how to control and treat the disease it causes. Chief amongst the concerns raised by doctors working in the Louisiana city is the death rate, which is two times that of New york city and over 4 times that of Seattle, based on Thursday’s publicly reported data.
New Orleans citizens struggle with weight problems, diabetes and hypertension at rates higher than the national average, conditions that physicians and public health officials say can make patients more vulnerable to COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.
Some 97%of those eliminated by COVID-19 in Louisiana had a pre-existing condition, according to the state health department. Diabetes was seen in 40%of the deaths, obesity in 25%, chronic kidney diseas