Italy must have a different, deadlier strain

Crazy. It's the same strain, a few weeks before we all get it.

Two strains have been identified so far, OP, but I'm not sure what's going on in Italy. They have really been in the worst of it.

Must have to do with hospital capacity.

Getting it early may be a survival strategy.

Italy is just further ahead OP. Their outbreak has been going on longer than it has been here.

Look at US coronavirus and Italy coronavirus on Wikipedia. Each maps the number of cases day by day. We are where Italy was on March 13. The growth percentage for Italy was about 20-25% percent at that time. At our equivalent time, it is 30-35%.

Italian healthcare is hardly the best....

Won’t it be educational to find out, r6? Coming to your local hospital in ten days!

Don't be surprised that the nations with a greater percentage of adult smokers and worse air quality also have higher percentage of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Americans are very unhealthy r8. We have high rates of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease.

Smoking is not the only thing. All those conditions put you at greater risk.

Italy's population is OLD. 25% are elderly, which I believe is one of the highest percentages. So it's the same strain, just hitting an older population Think Washingon State and the nursing home vs everywhere else.

OP, yes. It's non-pasta straining variety and it's fucking deadly!

Italians were very lax about complying with the social distancing rules when the government first encouraged it.

Also Italy has a higher than average percentage of old people. And a lot of them smoke (or used to).

r12 Lots of Americans are unhealthy with pre-existing conditions. And lots of people don't care about social distancing still as of right now. Lots of people still going to the gym and not practicing simply hygienic procedures. Watch in two weeks it's gonna explode. remember this virus is exponential over time.

They also got a very late start on testing. Initially, testing was only done on people with ties to China despite a huge spike in unusual pneumonia cases in January. It proved to be a huge mistake. As was their ban on direct flights from China, which means fuck all in Europe.

By the time someone shows up as a confirmed case, it means they got infected a week or two ago.

Lots of people aren't really interpreting what the numbers mean

[quote]Americans are very unhealthy [R8]. We have high rates of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease.

And that has a huge impact on how a body deals with Covid. Neurologist Scott Mintzer:

I’ve been in touch with an intensivist at a Seattle hospital with one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 admissions in the US.

Seattle has 12 machines, which is less than what’s needed. So a central committee there is deciding: you can’t go on ECMO if you're >40 yrs old, if you have another organ system failing, or… incredibly… if your BMI is>25. Turns out these are all major poor prognostic signs.

(Note: that doesn’t mean that anybody with a BMI >25 is in trouble if they get COVID. Just that if you’re critically ill from it, that is apparently a poor prognostic marker. Not sure anybody has a clear idea why.)

Fuck. I just ordered a pizza.

r8 doesn't post that [bold]ONLY[/bold] nations with high % of smokers and poor air quality will have higher percentage. Yankland's shitshow (what the hell is wrong with your GOP Senators and Congresscritters that they're not clamouring for the 25th Amendment along with the Democrats?) will produce high numbers too.

The tweet in the OP has already been deleted. Wonder what it was?

What's the Pope doing about it?

I bet the Pope has it. They won't say if they can avoid it.

Old, fat farts beware!

99% of Those Who Died From Virus Had Other Illness, Italy Says

More than 99% of Italy’s coronavirus fatalities were people who suffered from previous medical conditions, according to a study by the country’s national health authority.

After deaths from the virus reached more than 2,500, with a 150% increase in the past week, health authorities have been combing through data to provide clues to help combat the spread of the disease.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government is evaluating whether to extend a nationwide lockdown beyond the beginning of April, daily La Stampa reported Wednesday. Italy has more than 31,500 confirmed cases of the illness. Italy Coronavirus Deaths

The new study could provide insight into why Italy’s death rate, at about 8% of total infected people, is higher than in other countries.

The Rome-based institute has examined medical records of about 18% of the country’s coronavirus fatalities, finding that just three victims, or 0.8% of the total, had no previous pathology. Almost half of the victims suffered from at least three prior illnesses and about a fourth had either one or two previous conditions.

More than 75% had high blood pressure, about 35% had diabetes and a third suffered from heart disease.

The median age of the infected is 63 but most of those who die are older

The average age of those who’ve died from the virus in Italy is 79.5. As of March 17, 17 people under 50 had died from the disease. All of Italy’s victims under 40 have been males with serious existing medical conditions.

While data released Tuesday point to a slowdown in the increase of cases, with a 12.6% rise, a separate study shows Italy could be underestimating the real number of cases by testing only patients presenting symptoms.

According to the GIMBE Foundation, about 100,000 Italians have contracted the virus, daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported. That would bring back the country’s death rate closer to the global average of about 2%.

interesting, r22. So are we to conclude from that that the Italians are not as healthy as the Chinese and Koreans?

Average age of death 79.5. Risk factor is heart disease - and ACE inhibitors. Paints a very different picture if true.