Coronavirus Chronicles — More Caring Is Needed

Some very fresh news is that a new COVID variant has shown up in South Africa, and there is little doubt that it will soon be found around the globe, despite whatever measures may be taken to prevent its spread. This is especially ominous in the COVID-weary emotional climate that presently exists. Everybody is just sick of being careful, and several winter holidays make people feel that their personal travel plans are of the utmost urgency. The Guardian reports,

Dr Susan Hopkins said the R value, or effective reproduction number, of the B.1.1.529 variant in Gauteng in South Africa, where it was first found, was now 2. For an R of anything above 1, an epidemic will grow exponentially.

The U.K. Health and Security Agency’s chief medical adviser says this variant is “the most worrying we’ve seen,” an opinion shared by numerous authorities. For a quick refresher on the meaning of “exponential,” we refer once more to the Legend of the Chessboard. So, this is the kind of world we are going to inhabit for a while yet.

Those who care for us

As long as obesity continues to exacerbate COVID, and as long as COVID continues to exacerbate obesity, each condition needs to be curbed not only for its own sake but for the sake of the people who are affected by the mutually assistive nature of the two conditions.

One of the most relevant possible topics is the well-being of healthcare professionals. This concern should also extend to receptionists, cleaning staff, volunteers, and indeed anyone who works with people who either suffer from coronavirus or who are being tested for the disease.

Once again, we turn to the first-person reports made by people in and around the medical field, and the indignant complaints from their spouses and parents, and from the respectful and cautious patients who witness horrible behavior. Social media are replete with sharp comments from those who are disheartened and angered by the lack of consideration shown by some patients and some family members, in healthcare environments.

In an office setting, unmasked visitors will populate the waiting room, and only mask up when their turns come. Worse yet, whether because of purposeful defiance or unfathomable ignorance, they will cover their mouths but leave their noses uncovered. When filling out paperwork, they lie about COVID symptoms. They cough on receptionists. Is it any wonder that normally empathic and helpful office staff become disgusted?

Worse yet, this can go both ways. For instance, an anonymous social media user wrote, “Went for blood work at my doctors office. The medical assistant was not wearing a mask. No signs posted about mask wearing.”

In the hospital

Patients who couldn’t even walk themselves through the hospital door will scream about what a hoax the virus is, right up until the moment when they are intubated and can no longer vocalize their thoughts. Hostile relatives will show up to say goodbye to a dying person, and curse the staff, yelling out sincere wishes that they too will die from COVID.

Nurses, doctors, all kinds of specialists, and even ward clerks go through excruciating routines at home, disinfecting themselves, observing disrobing rituals as elaborate as those of astronauts, or even isolating from their families for weeks at a time. They are fanatically conscientious about not bringing disease either to or from their workplace. Then, at work, they are subject to shabby treatment and indifference to their wellbeing.

Another thing you learn from social media is how, at a company with a vaccine mandate, employees will advise each other on how to obtain exemptions and avoid vaccination. You also find links to stories about, for instance, an actual nurse (in Louisiana) who warned patients that the vaccine “manipulates your DNA at the tiniest molecular level,” who told them not to get vaccinated, and who subsequently died of COVID taking an unknown number of victims along with her. Just imagine, there are adult Americans who believe that anti-COVID vaccines contain all kinds of crazy stuff — despite being reassured that microchips cannot be made from aborted fetuses.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “B.1.1.529 Covid variant ‘most worrying we’ve seen’, says top UK medical adviser,” TheGuardian.com, 11/26/21
Source: “Legend of the Chessboard,” YouTube.com, undated
Image by Marco Verch/CC BY 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — Just a Few More Ethnic Implications

A previous post mentioned “When Pandemics Collide: The Impact of COVID-19 on Childhood Obesity.” These authors are among many who make the same point: obesity promotes COVID, and COVID promotes obesity. They mention the disturbing fact that living in pandemic circumstances has led to an increase in domestic violence, including child abuse. Children with obesity or another pre-existing condition are particularly apt to contract COVID-19, and more likely to experience a serious case.

They mention the studies attributing obesity risk to toxic stress exposure suffered in childhood. They also say,

COVID-19 stressors disproportionally affect vulnerable populations already experiencing toxic stress from poverty, racism and structural inequality… Lack of, or decreased access, to treatments for chronic physical and/or mental illness conditions can exacerbate negative outcomes… Out of school time has been associated with weight gain especially for Hispanics, African Americans, and children with overweight…

Another voice, that of Laura Washington from Chicago Sun-Times, speaks of not only the virus, but of “another plague that affects us most — our everlasting battle with obesity.” She admits to having hoped the pandemic would lead people to the awareness that, to put it in stark terms, “the fat is killing us.” She mentions the high percentages of obesity among the Black and Hispanic communities and quotes journalist Brett Chase:

Having obesity increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Having obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to a COVID-19 infection.

For kids, as Pam Belluck of NYTimes.com reported, Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children is an additional threat, especially for young Black and Latino people, who together account for close to 70% of MIS-C cases. Then, there are all the specific details, both medical and societal, that complicate the picture. For instance, consider the pulse oximeter, which clips onto the patient’s finger to measure blood oxygen levels. In the COVID ward, that is a pretty important detail. In February, the Food and Drug Administration announced that the device “may be less accurate in people with dark skin pigmentation.”

In “Let’s talk about racism and health,” Margaret Flowers revisited a topic that Childhood Obesity News has discussed. Doctors and their attendant personnel are often not at their best when dealing with obese patients. Now, add race to that equation, and there is a situation. She writes,

One study found that when physicians were given the same description of patients that only varied by race, they made different diagnoses. Doctors were more likely to view black patients as ‘violent, suspicious or dangerous.’ Another study documented that racial bias leads to less treatment of pain for black versus white patients.

Another complication in the Black community is the (in some cases well-deserved) mistrust of certain medical recommendations. Although mostly for different reasons, a large number of white people strenuously also object to being vaccinated against COVID.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “When Pandemics Collide: The Impact of COVID-19 on Childhood Obesity,” PediatricNursing.org, 01/01/21
Source: “Pandemic makes obvious another great health threat to African Americans: obesity,” SunTimes.com, 02/28/21
Source: “COVID-Linked Syndrome in Children Is Growing and Cases Are More Severe,” Medium.com, 02/17/21
Source: “FDA Warns That Pulse Oximeters Are Less Accurate on Darker Skin,” Medium.com, 02/22/21
Source: “Let’s talk about racism and health,” popularresistance.org, 09/26/20
Image by Mike Finn/CC BY 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — More Ethnic Implications

Quick recap: Obesity and coronavirus are mutually beneficial. They create and select victims for each other. In the U.S., some ethnic and minority populations have higher obesity rates, especially among children. They also have higher COVID rates. When it comes to children, their own death or chronic illness are not the only sources of worry. When adults die, they leave behind progeny more vulnerable to the life challenges that tend to promote obesity. It’s like a big tangled ball of twine with no obvious place to begin the unraveling.

Here is what the numerous authors say (with lavish amounts of documentation) in an article titled “When Pandemics Collide: The Impact of COVID-19 on Childhood Obesity“:

[A]s we see children with obesity are also at a higher risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19, we have been reminded of the urgency of addressing obesity as a disease. Parental stress is associated with childhood obesity in some studies, most recently in non-Hispanic Black families… Disturbances in the social environment during infancy and early childhood appear to play a critical role in weight gain and obesity.

About a year ago, researchers from Leicester and Nottingham Universities released a meta-study, combining the information gleaned in 50 previous studies carried out in the U.K. and mostly in the U.S. They found that, compared to the number of white people who contract COVID 19, Asian people are one-and-a-half times as likely to catch it, while Black people are twice as likely.

However, this does not appear to be due to genetic factors, according to the lead researcher, Dr. Manish Pareek. Rather it seems attributable to the fact that members of ethnic minorities are more apt to be employed in “frontline” jobs that expose them to infected people. There is also more of a tendency for many people to share the same quarters, with little opportunity for a sick individual to self-isolate.

On and off the rez

In a recent post, we discussed indigenous populations in various states who have been disproportionately affected by the virus. In Montana, Native Americans are dying from the disease at a rate 11 times higher than white residents. They are only 7% of the state’s population but have experienced nearly 40% of the virus deaths. Some of the reasons are the lack of running water, multigenerational living arrangements, and pre-existing conditions like diabetes. Another reason, suggests journalist Miranda Green, is that many of the state’s seven reservations border on areas where defiant white residents refuse to wear masks or take other anti-pandemic safety measures.

Nationwide, COVID-19 has killed Native Americans at almost twice the rate of white people. In January, Jacque Gray of North Dakota’s Center for Rural Health spoke to a CNN reporter Kristen Rogers about the lack of mental health services on the reservations. She mentioned a tribe that has experienced multiple suicides among people in the 20- to 40-year age group. Sadly, this leaves behind some very disadvantaged children and overburdened grandparents. To do something so final and so devastating to loved ones, a person would have to be in a severe mental health crisis.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “When Pandemics Collide: The Impact of COVID-19 on Childhood Obesity,” PediatricNursing.org, 01/01/21
Source: “Black people ‘twice as likely to catch coronavirus’,” BBC.com, 11/12/20
Source: “Montana tribes hard-hit by COVID-19 brace for Republican takeover,” TheIntercept.com, 01/09/21
Source: “Mental health is one of the biggest pandemic issues we’ll face in 2021,” CNN.com, 01/04/21
Image by peachsmack/CC BY-SA 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — Ethnic Implications, Continued

Because COVID-19 seems to have a special affinity for fat cells, a lot of children who catch the disease are overweight or obese already. A considerably larger number of young survivors are on track to experience significant health consequences in the future. Even a child who does not carry excess weight may suffer from enough COVID after-effects to render them unable or unwilling to move around much or pay attention to their diets.

Some people say the number of children who have died from COVID-19 is so small as to be statistically insignificant. Compared to other plagues, maybe it is. On the other hand, with such matters as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) and Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (long COVID) hovering on the horizon, the point is worth making again: Obesity and the virus work together constantly, to the detriment of our children.

As we have seen, this is especially true of Hispanic, Black, Native American, and other groups. Some reasons why this happens are clear; others are disputed. What is obvious is that obese kids need to be protected from the virus, and that pediatric Coronavirus patients need to be protected from after-effects that cause a slide into weight issues that will be very difficult to recover from.

Lost in translation

We saw how diligently the corporations strive to have their messages translated for the audiences they are “targeting.” There are experts, part translator and part psychologist, who specialize in this field. Ironically, the efforts of junk-food advertisers are more impactful than public-service messages urging anti-COVID measures. Salud-America.org says,

Unfortunately, Latinos make up a very low percentage of those getting a vaccine, despite being disproportionately hurt by COVID-19.

At least a portion of the resistance is caused by the absence or inadequacy of bilingual health news, which can lead to an information gap large enough to allow some Spanish speakers to report that they never heard of the vaccine. Who can blame minorities for being suspicious? We have seen how many Black Americans have unsatisfactory and upsetting experiences with the health care system.

There are longstanding inequalities that align with racial differences. The Navajo Nation’s plight is a prime example. We all know by now that one of the greatest ways to protect ourselves from the disease is to wash our hands frequently. For people living with no water except what they bring in on a truck, this is an impossible expectation.

The privatization of water systems, and water systems run for profit rather than for the greater good, and many other factors, work to exacerbate the injustice and increase the likelihood of many more children enduring bad health outcomes.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Latinos Vaccinated for COVID-19 at Far Lower Rates than White People,” Salud-America.org, 06/01/21
Image by Centers for Disease Control/Fair Use

Coronavirus Chronicles — Ethnic Implications

The recent topic here has been how Latino and other ethnic communities are “targeted,” and disproportionately affected, by McDonald’s and its fellow fast-food corporations. Why is that so crucial at this particular time? Because COVID-19 also disproportionately targets these exact populations, and adding obesity to the equation is a recipe for disaster.

Of course, quick-service restaurants are not the only problem. Like many others, journalist Catarina Moura adds that the nationwide rise in childhood obesity is partly attributable to the virus,

[…] which has resulted in an increase in food insecurity — or the inability to afford healthy foods… The pandemic also disrupted the food supply chain and dramatically changed what was available in stores. Finally, loss of jobs meant loss of income, forcing parents to change their shopping habits and increasingly rely on non-perishable foods… Structural racism also played a role.

Dr. Sabrina Strings discussed the contemporary link between obesity and the pandemic, a co-dependency that she believes scientists are unable to sufficiently explain. She also dissects the racial origins of fatphobia, referencing the “cultural narrative that black people’s weight is a harbinger of disease and death.” These capsulized but suggestive phrases convey the gist:

Even before Covid-19, black Americans had higher rates of multiple chronic illnesses and a lower life expectancy than white Americans, regardless of weight… People’s bodies have been labeled congenitally diseased and undeserving of access to lifesaving treatments… I learned about guidelines suggesting that doctors may use existing health conditions, including obesity, to deny or limit eligibility to lifesaving coronavirus treatments…

Dr. Strings suggests that, adding insult to injury, people with low-paying jobs, who have no choice but to work, are being held responsible for their own vulnerability and blamed for exposing themselves to contagion.

Diabetes and more

Diabetes, a condition that often accompanies obesity, has always been a problematic result of the fast-food habit, especially among the Latino and Black populations. Of course, this is not limited to either to those groups or to the USA. A headline from yesterday reads, “Most Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia linked to diabetes and hypertension, says health ministry.”

The Centers for Disease Control issued a report stating that in America, between February 12 and July 31 of last year, people under the age of 21 accounted for 390,000 COVID-19 cases, including 121 deaths. According to the NPR,

They also found a staggering racial disparity. Of the children who died, 78% were children of color: 45% were Hispanic, 29% were Black and 4% were non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native.

Currently, the virus struts around and yells, “Hold my beer, and I’ll show you what comorbidity is all about!” The longer COVID-19 runs rampant, the more it goes after younger and younger victims, who of course are enthusiastic customers of quick-service restaurants. It is all one big, convoluted, terrifying mess.

(To be continued…)

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Childhood Obesity Drops In New Jersey; Pandemic Behind U.S. Spike,” Patch.com, 10/22/21
Source: “It’s Not Obesity, It’s Slavery,” NYTimes.com, 05/25/20
Source: “Most Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia linked to diabetes and hypertension, says health ministry,” StraitsTimes.com, 11/14/21
Source: “The Majority Of Children Who Die From COVID-19 Are Children Of Color,” NPR.org, 09/16/20
Image by Gwydion M. Williams/CC BY 2.0