Science

Interesting Early Facts about the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic

As the rate of new infections continues to climb here in the United States, there are more and more articles about the Coronavirus and how it is affecting people. Given that worldwide cases are now over a quarter of a million, the scientific community has compiled a good amount of data. While a lot of the numbers and analysis is preliminary, there are some interesting early results.

Risk of Infection by Blood Type

One interesting study looks at the blood types of COVID-19 infected patients to look at the levels of susceptibility. The study looked at 2173 patients. Then a comparison was made between the distribution of blood types in the normal population to the patients in the study. The analysis of the data showed that blood type A was affected significantly more than the non-A blood groups. The study also noticed that those in the 0 blood group had a lower risk of contracting the Coronavirus.

Comparison Chart:

Blood Type Normal Population COVID-19 Infected Sample
Blood Type O 34% 25%
Blood Type A 31% 38%
Blood Type B 24% 26%
Blood Type AB 9% 10%

Coronavirus Fatality by Gender

Another interesting point that just recently made the news looked at the fatality rate of those infected by COVID-19 by gender. Although the numbers show that men and women are almost equally infected, the death rate is higher in males. Males have a 2.8% death rate and women have a 1.7% death rate. The data shows that this appears consistent in different geographic locations.

Percent of Fatalities by Sex

Country Male Female
China 64% 36%
Italy 70% 30%
South Korea 54% 46%

There are many factors that could contribute to these numbers. Some are biological and others are lifestyle factors including smoking and drinking. These numbers have also been similar in other viral outbreaks including SARS.

Children at Lower Risk of Coronavirus

It was a little surprising to see the initial numbers showing that children had the lowest infection and fatality rate. As the cases have increased the numbers still support the earlier analysis. The overall death rate for children 10-19 years old is .2% and there are no fatalities recorded for children under 10 years old.

The CDC also analyzed cases in the United States and noticed that just 1.6% to 2.5% of 123 infected people 19 and under were admitted to hospitals. None of these people needed intensive care and none has died.

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Fedil

I was originally born in Missouri, but traveled around most of my childhood. My mom finally got tired of moving while we were in Dallas, Texas and I have been here ever since. After high school I started college at the University of North Texas (UNT) and started working in the computer field. I currently work for JCPenney as a front end software engineer for their e-commerce website. Before this I worked for AT&T about 12 years and started with them in 1999 (when they were Southwestern Bell). I have many passions and I really love photography. Besides photography I also love sports. I not only like to watch it, but I also love to play. Currently my friends and I play indoor soccer and flag football.

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