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Months into the outbreak of the virus across the globe that broke out stateside in mid-March, scientists continue to investigate COVID-19 to determine how it chooses its victims.
According to The Washington Post report, “the research remains provisional or ambiguous, and for now scientists can’t do much better than say that COVID-19 is more likely to be worse for older people — often described as over the age of 60 — and for those with chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, lung disease, and heart disease.”
The report states that social and demographic factors such as sex, race, ethnicity, income and access to quality health care, play major roles in how this pandemic affects people and who suffers the most.
Other factors could include obesity and select blood matters, according to the National Institutes of Health.
"While we’ve learned a lot about the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 and the spread of the illness around the world, much less is known about the condition’s underlying molecular features," Dr. Francis Collins wrote in his blog.
"It also remains mysterious what distinguishes the 80 percent of symptomatic infected people who recover with little to no need for medical care from the other 20 percent, who suffer from much more serious illness, including respiratory distress requiring oxygen or even more significant medical interventions."
The complete Washington Post report can be found here.
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