These graphs show the people most vulnerable to coronavirus: shot

As the coronavirus spreads across the country, millions of Americans, especially ethnic minorities, suffer from their health and financial difficulties.

New data Released on Tuesday Center for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 patients with a fundamental health problem in the United States show that they are likely to need treatment in hospitals or even in intensive care units. According to early epidemiological data from both China and the United States, they are also at increased risk of dying.

Experts say that coronavirus can strike low-income people more strongly here, because US health and wealth are so frequently linked.

Elderly people are the worst affected by the disease, according to CDC data, accounting for approximately 80% of deaths in China and the United States.

However, research has also shown that underlying health problems such as asthma, diabetes, and heart disease can make COVID-19 more dangerous.

According to the report, more than one-third of American adults, or 105 million, are infected with a coronavirus, increasing the risk of serious illness. Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of CDC data. For most of them, their age puts them at risk: over 76 million Americans are over 60. The remaining 29 million are young but have fundamental health problems.

Age and potential health issues are closely related. COVID-19 has been the most threatening to the elderly with potential illness. But the disease has already killed young Americans. 34 year old Californian With asthma 44 year old Louisiana woman Person with underlying illness of unknown details.

Already weakened

More than three-quarters of COVID-19 patients in the U.S. who needed ICU treatment had underlying disease and hospitalization, and 6,600 new CDC data show that basic health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and chronic lung disease are There was a report. Certain underlying disorders were more likely to lead to intensive care in hospitals—for example, 21.5% of COVID-19 patients who had underlying heart disease on the same CDC analysis were implanted in the ICU.

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Chinese scientists also report that heart disease of about the same age is a reliable indicator of whether COVID-19 patients require advanced treatment. COVID-19 patients with underlying medical conditions in China were also more likely to die. About 10% of Chinese cardiovascular patients have died. For diabetics, the results were similar: more than 7% died. This compares to 0.9% of patients without underlying disease.

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Doctors around the world have reported that some patients with severe COVID-19 had heart attacks and other heart complications during hospitalization for coronavirus, but these reports are still anecdotal.

Other viruses that attack the lungs, such as the flu, also affect the heart Dr. R. Scott StevensOperates an intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. Therefore, it makes sense that underlying heart disease makes coronaviruses more dangerous.

“We are thinking about a plan for ‘how to screen this patient? What interventions can we use?'” Said Stevens. “It’s like waiting on the beach to hit the waves. You don’t know when and how big.”

In the United States, African-Americans say they are far more likely to have fatal heart disease than other groups Donna Spiegelman, Biostatics and epidemiologist at Yale University School of Medicine. Researchers are worried that this could mean that the United States could end up with a significant gap in those who die from coronavirus.

2017, its last year Data is availableAfrican-Americans died of heart disease at a rate of 208 per 100,000, and whites died at a rate of 169 per 100,000. Rates for other races and ethnic groups were even lower.

“I would expect racial and ethnic disparities to be based solely on the burden of disease that exists.” Leonard Friedman, Professor of Health Policy and Management at George Washington University.

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Coronaviruses can also exacerbate regional disparities. This is because heart disease costs more in some parts of the country than in others. The map above shows that Appalachia, northern rural Mississippi’s northwestern rural area, and eastern Michigan, including Detroit, are located in areas with a high percentage of Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for heart disease.

Low income health struggle

In the United States, people who often struggle economically Struggling to stay healthy. Experts say that coronaviruses can attack life from every angle: they are more likely to have fundamental health problems and are at increased risk of serious complications and death. They are more likely to have jobs that do not allow them to work from home and are more likely to be exposed to the virus. And they are likely to be short on insurance and may prevent seeking treatment until it is too late.

“You start with those fundamental conditions, and then each layer of this is going to expand it further,” says John Zellner, An epidemiologist at the University of Michigan. “You may see the gap between who dies and who gets sick.”

During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, people living in low-literacy Chicago areas were more likely to die than those living in high-literacy areas, 2016 study Published by the National Academy of Sciences.

Say, “Whenever there is a disaster.” Pina SKINOKACK, “Unfortunately, I think low-income, low-income people are always most likely to be affected,” said a professor of infectious disease modeling at Georgia Institute of Technology.

People in rural areas go to the doctor or Hospital with ventilator Even if they realize they are short of coronavirus, they are not alone in preventing access to health care. Studies show that low-income urban people also struggle to see a doctor.

“Low-income populations will be hit regardless of where they live, rural or urban.” Julie Swan, A professor of industrial engineering at North Carolina State University, helps build models that predict pandemic growth. “If someone cannot get in early enough to get the right treatment, the situation may escalate and eventually enter the hospital.”

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However, rural areas often have weak defenses against public health crises. The map above shows the location CDC says it is more vulnerable On “stress on human health” due to a combination of factors including poverty, education level, quality of housing, lack of access to transportation, and other issues.

Counties along the border with Mexico, large southern belts, and low-population areas of Alaska stand out as just a few places with some tools to fight the coronavirus.

Many rural hospitals have been closed after years of financial difficulties, hospitals that remain open have few staff, and urban hospitals do not have many layers of specialized doctors and emergency medical nurses.

“ We can only imagine that we could take a mom or grandmother to an emergency room, literally become full of people, and think that we had to wait hours outside before being seen by someone “Says Yale epidemiologist Spiegelman. “And even some people will even die while they wait.”