CORONA Why is New Orleans' coronavirus death rate 7 times New York's? Obesity is a factor

April 2 (Reuters) - The coronavirus has been a far deadlier threat in New Orleans than the rest of the United States, with a per-capita death rate much higher than in New York City. Doctors, public health officials and available data say the Big Easy's high levels of obesity and related ailments may be part of the problem.

"We're just sicker," said Rebekah Gee, who until January was the Health Secretary for Louisiana and now heads up Louisiana State University's healthcare services division. "We already had tremendous healthcare disparities before this pandemic – one can only imagine they are being amplified now."

Along with New York and Seattle, New Orleans has emerged as one of the early U.S. hotspots for the coronavirus, making it a national test case for how to control and treat the disease. Chief among the concerns raised by doctors working in the Louisiana city is the death rate, which is seven times that of New York and ten times that of Seattle, based on publicly reported data.

New Orleans residents suffer from obesity, diabetes and hypertension at rates higher than the national average, conditions that doctors and public health officials say can make patients more vulnerable to COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.

Some 97% of those killed by COVID-19 in Louisiana had a preexisting condition, according to the state health department. Diabetes was seen in 40% of the deaths, obesity in 25%, chronic kidney disease in 23% and cardiac problems in 21%.

New Orleans, which so far has reported more than 270 coronavirus deaths, could be a harbinger for the potential toll the pandemic could take in other parts of the South and Midwest that also have high rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.

A host of other factors could contribute to New Orleans' high death rate for coronavirus, ranging from access to healthcare and hospital quality, to the prevalence of other conditions including lung disease, health officials say.
But they also add that it is clear that obesity-related conditions are playing a role in the deaths. That could be a warning sign for the United States at large, where chronic obesity is more common than in other developed countries, they said.

Hospitals are reporting cases across the generations -mothers and daughters, fathers and sons - being intubated and cared for in the same intensive care units (ICUs), said Tracey Moffatt, the chief nursing officer at Ochsner Health, the largest healthcare provider in Louisiana. The prevalence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease in New Orleans and Louisiana plays into that, she said.

Those family members often suffered from the same medical conditions before becoming sick, leaving them similarly vulnerable to the coronavirus despite their age gaps.
"We had a case where a mom was already in the ICU and the daughter, who was obese, came in," she said. "The daughter asked staff to wheel her by her mom's room so she could say goodbye before she herself was intubated. We knew the mother was going to pass away."
Both patients suffered from obesity.

'MORE VULNERABLE'
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released for the first time this week a report showing that 78% of COVID-19 patients in ICUs in the United States had an underlying health condition, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung disease.

The CDC report was based on a sample of under 6% of reported coronavirus infections, but doctors in Louisiana said it was consistent with what they are seeing, and it is in line with what other countries like Italy and China have faced.

Those percentages, said Dr. Joseph Kanter, an emergency department doctor and the top public health official in New Orleans, are likely similar in cities across the United States.
"What we worry about here is that we have more people in our communities with those conditions," he said. "We're more vulnerable than other communities, and the number of deaths we've seen illustrates that."

The New Orleans metropolitan statistical area ranks among the worst in the United States for the percentage of residents with diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity, a Reuters analysis of CDC data shows. An estimated 39% have high blood pressure, 36% are obese and about 15% have diabetes.

Nationally, the median is 32% with high blood pressure, 31% obese and 11% with diabetes.
"The burden of disease in Louisiana and the Deep South is higher than in rest of the country," said Gee. "Invariably that means that the South is going to be hard hit by this." (Reporting by Brad Brooks in Austin, Texas, additional reporting by Ryan McNeill in London; Editing by Scott Malone and Rosalba O'Brien)

obesity, diabetes and hypertension When you're 350lbs you're not doing yourself any favors. Most health problems go away when your BMI is lower than 25. I read where being morbidly obese is a high contributing factor in covid death. This condition can be cured by a change in diet. Nothing more. Just a change in diet. Lower your carb intake, go for a walk. It's that easy.

Piss poor medical care. Truth most ERs see fat and obese people as organ donors.

The Snack Artist said:

obesity, diabetes and hypertension When you're 350lbs you're not doing yourself any favors. Most health problems go away when your BMI is lower than 25. I read where being morbidly obese is a high contributing factor in covid death. This condition can be cured by a change in diet. Nothing more. Just a change in diet. Lower your carb intake, go for a walk. It's that easy.

Click to expand...

I'm guessing the majority off these people are black. Probably generational food stamp recipients. Totally uneducated and totally addicted to junk and carbs.
I see the white version walking around up here where I am.
It isn't simple when your mama and grandmama and everyone around you eats that way and doesn't know any better.

NOLA Chef Kevin Belton lost about 100 pounds. If he can do it, almost anyone can.

Meemur said:

NOLA Chef Kevin Belton lost about 100 pounds. If he can do it, almost anyone can.

Click to expand...

They gotta be edumacated....

There’s talk that why the big cities, NYC, San Francisco, New Orleans are getting hit hard is, because a big portion of the extremely ill are male homosexuals. Recall HIV is a coronavirus. Their sexual way of life, leaves them open to any kind of infection or virus, period. Co19 is particularly hitting them hard. Recall it’s been reported this is hitting men harder than women.

Of course don’t mention the obvious, it’s men in cities with a large homosexual population:

marymonde said:

There’s talk that why the big cities, NYC, San Francisco, New Orleans are getting hit hard is, because a big portion of the extremely ill are male homosexuals. Recall HIV is a coronavirus. Their sexual way of life, leaves them open to any kind of infection or virus, period. Co19 is particularly hitting them hard. Recall it’s been reported this is hitting men harder than women.

Click to expand...

This doesn’t surprise me at all and it’s a shameful topic to discuss in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, though being homosexual or bisexual is okay if your married to a woman and produce children... it falls under the context of “you will get married and be miserable like the rest of us” and I’m dead serious!

marymonde said:

Of course don’t mention the obvious, it’s men in cities with a large homosexual population:

DNyuz - Latest Breaking U.S. News

Latest Breaking News, U.S. and World Politics, Crime, Business, Science, Technology, Autos, Entertainment, Culture, Movie, Music, Sports.

dnyuz.com

Click to expand...

Somewhere early in the main thread on the virus it was suggested that this was a virulent form of AIDS.

Cardinal said:

I'm guessing the majority off these people are black. Probably generational food stamp recipients. Totally uneducated and totally addicted to junk and carbs.
I see the white version walking around up here where I am.
It isn't simple when your mama and grandmama and everyone around you eats that way and doesn't know any better.

Click to expand...

I see the white version of this where I am too. They get sick and cry for help. I say, "You've already helped yourself! To the Fettuccine Alfredo like 4 times already! Put the fork down!" When you are thin you get healthy on your own. Ever hear of autophagy? Check it out. Great point though Cardinal and thank you for posting.

Pre-existing conditions of all types nearly double your risk. Obesity is rarely mentioned but if you look at pictures of some of the dead they were good sized people with potentially untreated health risks. Nor do you have to be the size of a house to have HPB, Type 2, chronically high cholesterol, weight induced breathing difficulties, etc.

marymonde said:

There’s talk that why the big cities, NYC, San Francisco, New Orleans are getting hit hard is, because a big portion of the extremely ill are male homosexuals. Recall HIV is a coronavirus. Their sexual way of life, leaves them open to any kind of infection or virus, period. Co19 is particularly hitting them hard. Recall it’s been reported this is hitting men harder than women.

Click to expand...

hiv is a coronavirus? i have not heard that. i cannot find anything that says that. both hiv and coronaviruses need protease to work. the hiv drugs they tried (but didn't work) are protease inhibitors.

It’s a combo of diet & lifestyle. Both black & white culture in the area eat a lot of rich (delicious) food and drink heavily. These are generalities of course but are basically true.

Just saw a thing where California has nowhere near the number they should. Healthy lifestyle out there. The scooters at Wallyworld just crack me up.

It's a question no one's asking. How many people have actually died FROM COVID-19 and how many have merely died WITH it?

Perhaps a large part of the reason more people are dying in New Orleans is that all the media attention - and hence the lions share of the limited number of ventilators, PPEs, and anti-viral meds are being sent to New York, Seattle and California.

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo pointed out, states are outbidding other states - with the needed supplies going to the state that can cough up the most money.

Louisiana is a poor state. They cannot begin to come up with the kind of money New York and California can come up with.

maybe a few more Louisiana lives could be saved, if the New England Patriots would fly in a plane load of supplies for the Louisiana victims, the way they did for the folks in New York. Or if Amazon or other big corporations would direct some of their coronavirus charity towards the Louisiana victims. New Orleans could use a Navy hospital ship, the way New York and California have been given. Why is it that the Navy can come up with a ship for California - where the death rates are considerably LOWER - but they have not sent a hospital ship to New Orleans, where death rates are significantly higher?

Louisiana victims need the same help that New York, California and Seattle have been given.

But to date, they have not been given anywhere near the same level of help.

So, it is no surprise that Louisianians are dying at a higher rate.

Can you expect anything different, with the wholesale neglect of the Louisiana coronavirus victims?

Blacknarwhal said:

It's a question no one's asking. How many people have actually died FROM COVID-19 and how many have merely died WITH it?

Click to expand...

Unusual question. Kinda like...

Did he die from old age or did he die with old age?

hunybee said:

hiv is a coronavirus? i have not heard that. i cannot find anything that says that. both hiv and coronaviruses need protease to work. the hiv drugs they tried (but didn't work) are protease inhibitors.

Click to expand...

You are correct, it’s not corona it’s aLentivirus.I’m sorry I mixed that up. I’ve been reading too many articles and confused the two.

This article is quite interesting.

marymonde said:

You are correct, it’s not corona it’s aLentivirus.I’m sorry I mixed that up. I’ve been reading too many articles and confused the two.

This article is quite interesting.

Are people living with HIV more at risk from coronavirus?

As coronavirus sweeps the world, many people living with HIV are asking whether their status counts as an underlying condition and makes them more at risk.

www.reuters.com

Click to expand...

oh no worries! it is easy to get mixed up right now lol

Blacknarwhal said:

It's a question no one's asking. How many people have actually died FROM COVID-19 and how many have merely died WITH it?

Click to expand...

I'm thinking, if you have got Corona virus and it triggers something else that kills you, you still died of the virus.

Cardinal said:

I'm guessing the majority off these people are black. Probably generational food stamp recipients. Totally uneducated and totally addicted to junk and carbs.
I see the white version walking around up here where I am.
It isn't simple when your mama and grandmama and everyone around you eats that way and doesn't know any better.

Click to expand...

^^^^THIS^^^^

Spot on commentary.

As someone who has Africans in their own family, I can attest to their
piss poor eating habits, and their overall lifestyles.

As for New Orleans, its a chocolate city, and that 1 fact,
is why they are in the predicament, that they are in.

As for New York City, it has a very aggressive African population,
however just based on their demographics,
New York City is not a chocolate city.

The incredible prepper website, city-data.com tells all.

Nothing can be done there, except ride it out.

Please be safe everyone.

Regards to all.

Nowski

Cardinal said:

I'm guessing the majority off these people are black. Probably generational food stamp recipients. Totally uneducated and totally addicted to junk and carbs.
I see the white version walking around up here where I am.
It isn't simple when your mama and grandmama and everyone around you eats that way and doesn't know any better.

Click to expand...

Also a lot of the chronically poor (Black, White, Native American and Hispanic) have the "bad/cheap" diet thing going back to the commodities programs which I am just old enough to remember (and my mom taught me to cook with when she traded with a neighbor).

That was largely white flour, cornmeal, dried beans, fatty pork (in cans), dried milk and "goberment" cheese (sometimes) labeled "cheese food."

Then when food stamps came along, I remember being on them and going to the "used" (day old) bread store to extend my food stamps (I was laid off) and watching heavy Welfare Moms with six little ones stuffing their carts with (then) ten-cent loaves of white bread, giant bags of pasta, dried beans (the 1970s), broken cookies and potato chips.

It wasn't healthy food but it was something for all those little tummies to digest.

Today it is processed versions of the same thing - I saw a documentary on helping a poor American family eat better and they had a choice between a child fast-food hamburger meal for the same price as one bell pepper (at the one shop they could get to).

Long-term obesity is not as easily solved as "eat fewer carbs/exercise more" for one thing science now knows that there are a number of different things (from genetics to gut biomes) that make weight a very individual thing and there's a simple fact that healthy and unprocessed food is simply too expensive and often not even available where poorer people live.

Now I think this would be a great time to revive the WWII and even Settlement House (the early 1900s) cooking classes (on-line) and "outreach" programs from churches and charities that provide cooking and storage suggestions for cooking with basic ingredients along with their foodbanks (again not possible in person right now).

But with the best will, enough money and the time to take action, someone who is 350 to 400 pounds is going to take several years to safely take it off and have a hope of KEEPING off.

All those shows you see like "The Greatest Loser" tend to have really sad outcomes if you visit the same folks five years later unless they were very lucky; because most people respond to crash diets by gaining it all back and then some and there's a scientific reason for that to going back to famine genes but that's for another thread.

Cardinal said:

I'm thinking, if you have got Corona virus and it triggers something else that kills you, you still died of the virus.

Click to expand...

That's my feeling as well. Granted, if you're already on hospice care, it may not be the *sole* cause of death, but if it causes you to die sooner than expected, it was definitely a contributor. And if it triggers a fatal heart attack, it still was the original cause of death, with a heart attack rather than respiratory failure being the mechanism.

Summerthyme

Barry Natchitoches said:

Why is it that the Navy can come up with a ship for California - where the death rates are considerably LOWER - but they have not sent a hospital ship to New Orleans, where death rates are significantly higher?

Click to expand...

Just maybe because the hospital ship was already in the Pacific Ocean?

550

Cardinal said:

I'm thinking, if you have got Corona virus and it triggers something else that kills you, you still died of the virus.

Click to expand...

That's almost a question of semantics. If someone kills you with a handgun, what killed you? The gun, the bullet, the trigger, or the person who fired the gun? Is it any one of these, or all of them together? Bullets can't kill you if someone throws one at you. The gun can't fire without the trigger. Guns don't fire themselves. An unarmed person is much less likely to kill you.

At any rate, it's hard to say that the coronavirus killed you, because if you didn't have everything else, it might not have. Remember the sheer number of people that survive coronavirus. Right now, based solely on what we know so far, there have been 245,175 cases in the US. There have been 6,059 deaths, and 10,403 have recovered. This doesn't even factor in everybody who's had it and never got added to the roster because they never went for testing, thinking they just had a cold or a flu (YES I KNOW THIS IS NOT THE FLU). Not that they could have been tested even if they wanted to.

However, this only improves the "recovered" category. Which is good, because the two were almost even officially.

Randy in Arizona said:

Just maybe because the hospital ship was already in the Pacific Ocean?

550

Click to expand...

Perhaps.

But it is NOT just the lack of a hospital ship for New Orleans that is driving their death rates so much higher than New Yorl, California or Seattle.

It is the complete lack of EVERYTHING - including some basic compassion and empathy for those who in Louisiana who are suffering from and dying of, this illness.

Just look at the overall tone of this thread. It is totally hostile - classic blame the victim - instead of the compassion that is typical of TB2Kers towards virus victims who live elsewhere.

If you folks would show a little compassion for those in Louisiana who are suffering - just the same compassion you have demonstrated for New York - that would be a start.

Back up that compassion with at least a single ounce of the physical HELP that New York victims are being freely GIVEN by other folks around the country - and maybe Louisiana death rates might lower to New York levels.

Louisiana virus victims need the same compassion and physical HELP that is being given to virus victims who live in other states. But all I see demonstrated in this thread is hatred.

Is that really what TB2K is about nowadays?
I know the rest of the world has sunk to that level.

But here too?


Meantime, one infutible fact exists when it comes to death rates with this virus -- those victims who are denied basic lifesaving supports are going to be the ones most likely to die.

And right now, the lions share of support is going to victims in New York, California and Seattle.

Support that is NOT being offered to virus victims in Louisiana at the present time.


Which is why a greater percentage of the folks in New York are living, while a greater percentage of Louisianians are dying.

Let me remind you folks of one thing - many of you are older than 60 or 65 years old.

it is not just Louisianians who are likely to be wholesale denied lifesaving materials and treatments in weeks/months to come.

Older folks anywhere in this country will face greater discrimination when it comes to getting treated in the foreseeable future. And if the "OK, Boomer" movement is any indication, there is a whole lot of pent up resentment among younger folks towards you -- even before it becomes a life threatening scramble for precious but limited health care.


How will you feel when you begin to face the same resentment and hatred among the younger generation that some of you have directed towards Louisianians with the virus earlier in this thread?

in weeks to come, I fully expect the death rates among older folks to be even higher than it needs to be - because younger folks will get the lions share of the scarce treatment resources.

I hope folks show you more compassion when that happens, than some of you have shown the virus victims of Louisiana

Barry Natchitoches said:

Let me remind you folks of one thing - many of you are older than 60 or 65 years old.

I hope folks show you more compassion when that happens, than some of you have shown the virus victims of Louisiana

Click to expand...

Yes- where is our compassion?

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
1 Peter 3:8

Randy in Arizona said:

Just maybe because the hospital ship was already in the Pacific Ocean?

550

Click to expand...

And they only have two hospital ships one based on the east coast and one on the west coast and both are committed. Like it or not it’s not the government’s responsibility to save our azzes, even in a pandemic. They will do what they can but like in most emergencies you are pretty much on your own. That isn’t a lack of compassion, that is reality.

Hfcomms said:

And they only have two hospital ships one based on the east coast and one on the west coast and both are committed. Like it or not it’s not the government’s responsibility to save our azzes, even in a pandemic. They will do what they can but like in most emergencies you are pretty much on your own. That isn’t a lack of compassion, that is reality.

Click to expand...

Agree.

But in the mean time it would be helpful if our government did not lie to us.

What is even more sad is the number of people who actually believe what the government says.

Barry Natchitoches said:

Perhaps.

But it is NOT just the lack of a hospital ship for New Orleans that is driving their death rates so much higher than New Yorl, California or Seattle.

It is the complete lack of EVERYTHING - including some basic compassion and empathy for those who in Louisiana who are suffering from and dying of, this illness.

Just look at the overall tone of this thread. It is totally hostile - classic blame the victim - instead of the compassion that is typical of TB2Kers towards virus victims who live elsewhere.

If you folks would show a little compassion for those in Louisiana who are suffering - just the same compassion you have demonstrated for New York - that would be a start.

Back up that compassion with at least a single ounce of the physical HELP that New York victims are being freely GIVEN by other folks around the country - and maybe Louisiana death rates might lower to New York levels.

Louisiana virus victims need the same compassion and physical HELP that is being given to virus victims who live in other states. But all I see demonstrated in this thread is hatred.

Is that really what TB2K is about nowadays?
I know the rest of the world has sunk to that level.

But here too?


Meantime, one infutible fact exists when it comes to death rates with this virus -- those victims who are denied basic lifesaving supports are going to be the ones most likely to die.

And right now, the lions share of support is going to victims in New York, California and Seattle.

Support that is NOT being offered to virus victims in Louisiana at the present time.


Which is why a greater percentage of the folks in New York are living, while a greater percentage of Louisianians are dying.

Click to expand...

Agree somewhat.

But for the average thinking white person it is hard to have sympathy for the race that hates our guts and blames - EVERY problem they have on us. No matter how hard we try help them it's always our fault. And yet our race SUFFERS in many ways just to help them. Not sure how you overcome that but for me it is a struggle.

This is a city where if I took a walk through it's streets at night this race would - rob me - attack me - kill me - simply because I am white. A city that has few whites - simply because they were not safe around these people.

Barry, I'm not seeing the overt hostility that you are implying in this thread.
You make a good point about resources being directed elsewhere, but there are also valid points being made about the general underlying health issues that affect Louisiana.
Taking a wild guess, I bet that the diabetes rate and heart attack rate is higher in your state than in others.
And that is not being nasty or uncompassionate.
Poverty and a lack of education is going to result in poor health.
And I don't care how many ventilators you redirect to this area, it won't undo what a lifetime of bad nutrition has created.

Barry Natchitoches said:

Perhaps a large part of the reason more people are dying in New Orleans is that all the media attention - and hence the lions share of the limited number of ventilators, PPEs, and anti-viral meds are being sent to New York, Seattle and California.

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo pointed out, states are outbidding other states - with the needed supplies going to the state that can cough up the most money.

Louisiana is a poor state. They cannot begin to come up with the kind of money New York and California can come up with.

maybe a few more Louisiana lives could be saved, if the New England Patriots would fly in a plane load of supplies for the Louisiana victims, the way they did for the folks in New York. Or if Amazon or other big corporations would direct some of their coronavirus charity towards the Louisiana victims. New Orleans could use a Navy hospital ship, the way New York and California have been given. Why is it that the Navy can come up with a ship for California - where the death rates are considerably LOWER - but they have not sent a hospital ship to New Orleans, where death rates are significantly higher?

Louisiana victims need the same help that New York, California and Seattle have been given.

But to date, they have not been given anywhere near the same level of help.

So, it is no surprise that Louisianians are dying at a higher rate.

Can you expect anything different, with the wholesale neglect of the Louisiana coronavirus victims?

Click to expand...

You started with perhaps, and then by the end you stated an affirmation that Louisiana is being denied supplies because of their poverty. Interesting. I think of it as "Democratic Triage" executed by the Dems. Of course. They couldn't care less about NO. Neither do I.

More people died during Katrina too. It wasn't because they were fat.

raven said:

More people died during Katrina too. It wasn't because they were fat.

Click to expand...

It was if they couldn't outrun the hordes!

The high humidity in NOL could be a factor. Those droplets hang in the air longer.
Mike

Cardinal,

You would be right in assuming the state I live in has higher than normal heart attack and diabetes rates.

Much higher.

But I do NOT live in Louisiana.

I live in Tennessee.

The Snack Artist said:

You started with perhaps, and then by the end you stated an affirmation that Louisiana is being denied supplies because of their poverty. Interesting. I think of it as "Democratic Triage" executed by the Dems. Of course. They couldn't care less about NO. Neither do I.

Click to expand...

You made my point, snack artist.

There are folks - just like you - who worship the New York folks, and either just ignore the folks in Louisiana, or else show downright hatred towards them.

either way, it is the wholesale neglect of the health needs of the folks in Louisiana - and NOT their weight, diabetes or even skin color - that is killing them in greater numbers than New York now.

And that is true, even if your hard heart and miserable attitude try to paint things in a different light.

Barry Natchitoches said:

So, it is no surprise that Louisianians are dying at a higher rate.

Can you expect anything different, with the wholesale neglect of the Louisiana coronavirus victims?

Click to expand...

Let me pause for a second to play for you the world's tiniest violin.

Those obese people don't care enough about themselves to do anything about it, so it's up to the rest of us to do all the "caring" for them?

You've got a population in Louisiana that would end up dying young anyway, because they keep shoveling junk food uncontrollably into their mouths, and by noticing that they are dying quicker because of this (in comparison to those in NY state) - that makes us "miserable" and mean? Or it makes us "worship New Yorkers?" It makes this thread "hostile?"