National Review
We must escape the trap of COVID-Obesity
More than a year after the coronavirus arrived in the United States and governments around the world have ostensibly instituted measures to limit its spread, there is still a lot we don’t know about the disease. And if the Chinese Communist Party gets what it wants, there are many things that we will never know for sure (despite the strong evidence) about its origin. But even now, as this country innovates to get out of the problem with notable vaccines, we don’t fully understand how the virus spreads, why it reaches some places and people worse than others, and how effective (if at all) certain mitigation measures are. Recently, however, two aspects of the coronavirus era have become clearer. Both are about weight and both suggest that one of the main ways in which our society reacted was an obvious mistake – and one that must be corrected. The first should come as no surprise: during the past year or so, many people have gained more weight than they would like. According to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association, 61% of American adults reported unwanted weight changes since the pandemic began. To be clear, part of that was unwanted weight loss. But 42 percent of respondents indicated unwanted weight gain. Ominously, the number was even higher for younger generations: almost half of Millennials and slightly more than half of Generation Z. The survey reports some impressive numbers, not only in overall percentages, but also in average weight gain for those who reported having won (29 pounds in total, 28 pounds for Generation Z and an impressive 41 pounds for Millennials). These results are worth considering with a grain of salt (better here than at the next meal). But they are almost certain to capture a real trend. And it is no mystery why this may have happened. Since last March, people have been encouraged to stay in their homes, and opportunities for exercise and recreation have decreased, while external stress has increased. These factors had real implications for the physical health of many. The second closely related aspect of the coronavirus era that has become clearer lately should also come as no surprise: being overweight makes the coronavirus worse. According to a March report from the World Obesity Federation: In countries where less than half of the adult population is classified as overweight. . . the likelihood of death from COVID-19 is a small fraction – about a tenth – of the level observed in countries where more than half of the population is classified as overweight. The report adds that “of the 2.5 million COVID-19 deaths reported by the end of February 2021, 2.2 million occurred in countries where more than half of the population is classified as overweight”. There may be other factors at play; air conditioning, climate, time spent indoors, etc. But in our own survey, also in March, our own CDC found that, in the United States, more than half of coronavirus patients in hospitals were clinically obese, and an additional 28 percent were overweight. These findings may resolve an essential dilemma regarding the spread and intensity of the coronavirus, explaining why some countries and other regions with inferior medical systems or entirely different coronavirus mitigation strategies fared much better than those with apparently superior systems or strategies. It may be that the pre-existing health of a population has more to do with how that population deals with the coronavirus than anything else, because, in general, a healthy and fit person is better equipped than someone who does not. is able to deal with the coronavirus. As UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had a particularly nasty coronavirus attack, said bluntly after recovering, “I was very fat.” Late confirmation of these two almost self-evident observations should embarrass those who pushed, and continue to push, a reduction in physical activity, both inside and outside, as a coronavirus mitigation measure. Gyms were one of the first victims of coronavirus blockages, a step perhaps forgivable at this time last year, when we knew even less about the disease than now. Less forgivable, even at the time, was a general public health message campaign discouraging even outdoor recreation. Almost exactly a year ago, local governments across the country began removing basketball hoops from outdoor courts to prevent people from playing, that a California paddleboarder, alone in the ocean, saved by the creatures of the depths, was arrested for ignoring the COVID-induced closure of beaches and that a man was arrested in Colorado for playing ball in a practically empty park with his daughter. I may have been more tolerant of aggressive blocking measures from the start than I should have been. But even then, these reactions seemed excessive to me, especially when I saw electrical tape wrapped around a playground in the city where I spent the first months of the coronavirus era. These were just some of the most ridiculous examples of people at the local level accepting suggestions from the top that the outside world was dangerous and that it was better to just hide and subsist on Netflix and GrubHub until it was safe. But in general, people got the message. The result is that the United States became less healthy and less physically capable during the pandemic than before. And it was nothing to begin with: according to the CDC, 42 percent of the country was considered medically obese in 2018. Nor does the vicious cycle stop, with blockages encouraging obesity and obesity exacerbating the effects of the virus. In many jurisdictions, being over a certain weight allows you to get the coronavirus vaccine earlier, creating a perverse incentive to remain unfit. All of this raises another worrying question for the post-COVID era: Will the government’s excessive impositions on private life encourage an unhealthy lifestyle that will last much longer than the pandemic itself? However, it is not too late to learn lessons from our mistakes – above all, that personal physical health is still important. Although I am a runner, I do not point this out to brag, to suggest that I take care of myself perfectly, or to participate in what a Guardian columnist ridiculously calls “the atmosphere of joy surrounding the obesity link”. I simply believe that, insofar as we are able, we should take care of our bodies, preferably to avoid diseases under our control and to strengthen them against those that we cannot. In the meantime, public health messages and protocols that discourage physical activity should be, if not eliminated at once, severely slowed down. Fortunately, the academies appear to be reopening (although many of them have already been forced to close – another perverse result). But outdoor recreation venues should never have been completely closed, and we should begin to return to the organized forms of it, like running (and not just because I personally miss them). External transmission of the coronavirus is extremely rare. Therefore, we need to stop acting as if the outside world is a dangerous place. It will be a struggle, as many public health bureaucrats find it easier to command people than to release them to take care of themselves. But the final refutation of nannies who harass people about personal health is to prove to them through our actions that they are not needed. It is hoped that we will be able to leave the year with a greater appreciation for the benefits of physical activity, perhaps for a challenging opposition to the impositions we face. That has certainly been the case with me, as running almost every day – with a few exceptions – has been an essential part of my closed life. This is not for everyone, of course. To be honest, I’m a little crazy. But without regular physical activity in my life, I would have become one more. Just do something. The virtues of physical activity in the pandemic era are now obvious, although many coronavirus mysteries remain.