Since the start of the pandemic, research consistently shows that Covid-19 affects men worse than women. But why? Westend61/Getty Images
The novel coronavirus is by definition new to scientists, and they’ve been scrambling to understand who’s most at risk. But one thing has been clear from the very beginning—simply being a man puts you at greater risk of serious illness from Covid-19. “In early March we were attracted to the news reports from China showing a male sex tendency in Covid-19 severity, which was soon confirmed by Italian data showing almost a four-fold greater number of males with Covid-19 admitted to inpatient care facilities than females,” says Leanne Groban, MD, a researcher at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
According to a July 2020 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), globally, more men than women have died of Covid-19 in 41 of 47 countries, and the ratio of Covid-19 cases to deaths is 2.4 times higher among men than among women. In China, the Covid-19 death rate among men was 2.8 percent, compared to 1.7 percent among women. About 57 percent of American Covid-19 deaths have been men, although the report notes that the states haven’t been consistent in reporting data regarding gender. In addition, Covid-19 hits people of color harder. Read more >>