Why The COVID-19 Death Rate Is So High In Italy
How this European country has become the epicenter of the virus
Italy has a higher percentage in cases of death compared to any other country in the world and Europe as a whole is the new epicenter for the disease with Wuhan claiming to have no new cases of the COVID-19 virus.
Moritz Kuhn’s tweet thread above got me thinking of why Italy and select European countries are falling more fatally than some other countries.
Kuhn claims that in these countries the elderly and the young live closer together, which makes it nearly impossible to contain the virus as a whole. Similar countries that live in a similar fashion in Serbia, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia.
Here is a list of why European countries may be more at risk:
Heavy Smoking Population: 17/20 European countries rank on Macrotrends statistics of having high percentages of smokers. Italy alone smokes twice as many packs per capita as Sweden, smoking damages your lungs and makes you more susceptible to a virus. The act of smoking, putting fingers in and out of your mouth is a terrible habit too
Societal Affection: It is no secret that hugging and kissing is more commonplace in European countries than in other places around the world according to this CNNTraveler website. As the virus was not known much around the world, countries like Italy, France and Spain may have had higher populations in this habit
More Elderly Population: Italy has the second largest elderly population yb percentage according to Demographic Science, with nearly 23% of the population over the age of 65. Compared to 16% in the United States. 90% of all deaths in Italy have come from the 65+ age bracket and it continues to grow
Youth Commuting: For younger professionals in the workforce, it is common place for someone to live with their parents or grandparents well into their thirties. Living in a more rural area with their family and commuting in and out of Milan or another major city in the country. With this to be true, many of the younger working population could have carried the disease longer than expected
Testing Delays: Italy was deemed 10 days ahead of the outbreak compared to most European cities, but with those 10 days, it took another week or so in early March for proper test kits to be sent out to many hospitals. Showing how vital early and consistent testing is.
Italy and broader Europe aren’t poorer, dirtier or incompetent people. Their love for each other and their community is what make them such wonderful places to be a part of, but also may have caused the spread of this deadly disease. It is a shame they hit the viral lottery sooner than most ever could have imagined.