Turns out being fat, in and of itself, may be a risk factor when dealing with COVID-19.

There are now some studies that indicate for, unknown reasons, hospitals are seeing more fat young patients with COVID-19.

Obesity in COVID-19 patients under 60 a risk factor

High prevalence of obesity in ventilation

They don’t know why.

Usually, young people do not develop the more severe problems associated with COVID-19.

Of course, there are exceptions – some young people do develop severe problems that land them in the hospital and even in the ICU.

The thing is, if you are fat, you are more likely to develop those severe problems if you catch the virus.

According to the studies, this issue disappears around age 60 – where fat people have the same issues as their non-fat peers when dealing with the virus.

As I said, they don’t know why.

It may not be that being fat is the risk-factor, but rather how our society (and healthcare professionals in particular) treats fat people or the mechanisms fat people have developed because of how they are treated by society (and healthcare professionals in particular).

Perhaps, because of a totally understandable mistrust of doctors, fat people avoid seeking treatment until the symptoms become too serious to ignore and are actually life threatening.

Perhaps, when fat people seek early treatment, they are not taken as seriously as their non-fat peers.  (Having trouble breathing?  Lose some weight!)

The thing to be aware of is until this is understood, I urge my fat family and friends to not ignore or trivialize your symptoms.

If you think you have COVID-19, seek testing and treatment early – and DEMAND that you be taken seriously.  Even if that means, seeking treatment elsewhere.

This is your life.

It is worth fighting for.

You are worth fighting for.