Jokodo
Veteran Member
Something I just noticed: A lot more young(-ish) people seem to be getting hospitalized and dying in the USA/New York than e.g. in Italy: According to NY's Covid-19 tracker 17,4% of the state's dead are younger than 60, even 7% younger than 50. In Italy, only 5% are younger than 60. Any idea on what might cause this stark contrast? Other than maybe undercounting elderly victims presumed to have died of old age, but that would be exptected to be a factor in Italy at least as much as in New York?
Race could play a role.
Black Americans Face Alarming Rates of Coronavirus Infection in Some States
That doesn't really explain it - someone in Italy has to be doing the jobs blacks are doing in the US too. From your link it seems the most likely explanation for the disparity is sociological, with race as a proxy for class:
The data emerging in some places, researchers said, is partly explained by factors that could make black Americans more vulnerable in any outbreak: They are less likely to be insured, more likely to have existing health conditions and, as a result of implicit racial bias, more likely to be denied testing and treatment. And then, the researchers said, there is the highly infectious nature of the coronavirus in a society where black Americans disproportionately hold jobs that do not allow them to stay at home.
“If you walk outside and see who is actually still working,” said Elaine Nsoesie, an infectious disease modeler at Boston University’s School of Public Health, “the data don’t seem surprising.”