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WASHINGTON: Covid-19 has been especially risky for men, the elderly and the overweight, raising the level of danger for US President Donald Trump.
The positive diagnosis of the world’s most powerful man and first lady Melania Trump threw a new wrench into the gears of an already chaotic US presidential election that many see as a referendum on his handling of the virus.
Trump has dismissed preventive measures such as wearing masks, increasing the possibility of further transmission in Washington.
Trump turned 74 in June. For people who have Covid, the risk of hospitalization and death increases with age.
People ages 65 to 74 are five times more likely to be hospitalized and 90 times more likely to die, compared to patients ages 18 to 29, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Melania Trump, 50, would be considered lower risk than her husband.
Men have accounted for 54% of Covid-19 deaths in the US between February 1 and September 26, according to the CDC. And among the women who have died, nearly 84% are over 65.
Trump’s body mass index, a height and weight-based measure that doctors use to measure body fat, also creates potential dangers.
At the time of his annual physical in June, the president weighed 1.9 m and 110.6 kg, giving him a BMI of 30.5. A figure of 30 or more is considered obese.
russian roulette
It is unclear if Trump has any symptoms. Why some coronavirus cases become severe and others remain mild is a question that continues to baffle clinicians and researchers. Most of the world’s cases are classified as mild.
“Covid is like playing Russian roulette,” said Brian Oliver, a respiratory disease expert at the Sydney University of Technology. “It can affect anyone a lot, but we know that when people are older and when they have more pre-existing comorbidities, the chances of being affected and having a more serious reaction are much worse.”
Although experts caution that the relationship between obesity and mortality from Covid is not well understood, a meta-analysis of global data published in August suggested that obese people were 48% more likely to die from Covid-19, compared to people with BMI in the normal range.
Among the nearly 17,000 patients hospitalized for coronavirus in the US, about 77% were obese, according to another study.
Trump, of course, will have access to top-notch healthcare and monitoring, and with an annual salary that puts him in the top tier of Americans, he belongs to a demographic that did relatively well during the pandemic.
The United States has reported about 7.3 million Covid cases, with approximately 208,000 deaths, the most of any country.
The president also does not drink or smoke, which should improve his overall health. The risk of serious illness or death increases dramatically in older patients with pre-existing conditions such as heart disease or cancer.
PM Johnson disease
Other world leaders who have contracted the virus have had different experiences. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had only a mild illness during the summer.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 56, became seriously ill and required intensive care treatment after testing positive in March.
Johnson was taken to the hospital after being unable to shake off the cough and fever he had experienced for 10 days and was placed in intensive care the next day.
Johnson spent about a month off duty at the peak of the UK outbreak. Following reports of concern among his Conservative Party colleagues that he has yet to make a full recovery, the prime minister said this week that he is fitter than a “butcher dog.”
Treatment options are better now than they were last spring, when hospitals in Europe and the US were flooded with Covid patients.
Some therapies, such as the anti-inflammatory dexamethasone and the antiviral remdesivir, have been shown to benefit patients, and doctors know better when to use ventilators or when to refrain from doing so.
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