Obesity ups risk of COVID-19 death by 48%: Study

People eat chips whilst walking along the promenade at the British holiday resort of Scarborough, England, July 16, 2009. (Reuters)
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Updated 08 September 2020
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Obesity ups risk of COVID-19 death by 48%: Study

  • Chance of hospitalization 113% higher, of need for intensive care 74% higher
  • Report’s findings of particular concern to GCC states

LONDON: A new study has found that obesity increases the risk of death by COVID-19 by 48 percent, and may make vaccines against the disease less effective.

The study reveals that risks for obese people, those with a Body Mass Index over 30, are even greater than initially thought.

Carried out by the US-based University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in collaboration with Saudi Health Council and World Bank, the study found that not only is the risk of death 48 percent higher for the obese, but their chance of ending up in hospital is 113 percent higher, and the likelihood of being admitted to intensive care is 74 percent higher.

The study’s authors said any coronavirus vaccine may not be as effective for obese and overweight people, as was shown by the flu and SARS vaccines.

Barry Popkin, who led the study, described the findings as “scary,” telling The Guardian newspaper: “That’s a pretty big effect, for me.”

With some of the highest obesity rates in the world, the study’s findings are of particular concern for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states as they grapple with their coronavirus outbreaks.

Saudi Arabia has an obesity rate of 35.4 percent, but Kuwait is the most obese country in the Middle East, with a rate of 37.9 percent. 

Combined overweight and obesity rates in GCC countries are estimated to be as high as 86 percent among women and 77 percent among men. 

The report’s findings, combined with the high obesity rates in the GCC region, add new impetus to a number of new government initiatives aimed at curbing obesity rates and encouraging healthy lifestyles.

The Saudi Sports for All Federation has been leading a number of campaigns to promote a healthy lifestyle in the Kingdom and to encourage everybody to keep active.

In March, the Kingdom launched the “Your Home, Your Gym” campaign, aimed at encouraging people to embrace a healthy lifestyle while under lockdown.

And the KSA Women’s Fitness Festival brought together the Kingdom’s and the region’s best female athletes, nutritionists and lifestyle coaches to encourage Saudi women to live a healthier lifestyle.


Minneapolis mayor demands transparent investigation into ICE shooting as protests spread

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Minneapolis mayor demands transparent investigation into ICE shooting as protests spread

  • Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, said on Thursday that Minnesota authorities had no “jurisdiction” over the investigation
  • Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said he could not be sure the government’s account was grounded in fact until an independent investigation took place

MINNEAPOLIS: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Friday demanded the federal government permit state authorities to take part in the investigation into a US immigration officer’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman in her car, an incident that has sparked nationwide protests.
Frey, a Democrat, accused the Republican Trump administration of trying to predetermine the investigation’s outcome after the state’s lead investigative agency, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said the FBI had reversed its initial cooperation and blocked the BCA’s access to scene evidence, witness interviews and other material.
“This is a time to follow the law,” Frey said. “This is not a time to hide from the facts.” He added that despite the lack of aid from federal authorities, state or local prosecutions of the officer were still “potential.”
Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, said on Thursday that Minnesota authorities had no “jurisdiction” over the investigation. Frey’s comments underscored the extent to which President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in mostly Democratic-run cities — despite the opposition of their mayors — has severely frayed the trust between local and federal officials. Trump administration officials have defended Wednesday’s shooting as self-defense and accused the woman, Renee Good, a US ⁠citizen and mother of three, of deliberately aiming her car at the officer in an act of “domestic terrorism” — a narrative belied by video evidence and described by Frey as “garbage.” In Portland, Oregon, on Thursday afternoon, a US Border Patrol agent shot and wounded a man and woman in their car after an attempted vehicle stop. As in Minnesota, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the driver “weaponized” the car in an effort to run over the agent, who fired in self-defense.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, echoing Frey, said he could not be sure the government’s account was grounded in fact until an independent investigation took place.
“There was a time when we could take ⁠them at their word,” Wilson, a Democrat, said of federal officials. “That time is long past.”
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield told CNN on Friday morning that there is cooperation between federal and state investigators so far but that it was too early to draw any conclusions.

STATES ACCUSE FEDS OF SOWING CHAOS
In both cases, Democratic mayors and governors have called on the Trump administration to pull federal officers out, arguing that their presence is sowing chaos and needlessly creating tensions on the streets.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot Good was one of more than 2,000 federal personnel whom the Trump administration has ordered deployed to Minneapolis in what DHS described as the “largest operation” in its history.
He was identified as Jonathan Ross, based on comments by federal officials that the officer had previously been dragged by a migrant’s car during an attempted arrest last summer, suffering serious lacerations. The details matched those reflected in the court records of a case in Bloomington, Minnesota, in June 2025, in which a man was eventually convicted of assaulting Ross.
DHS has declined to ⁠confirm the officer’s name.
Bystander videos of the shooting appear to show Good turning her wheels away from the officer as she drives forward, while he fires three shots while jumping backward from the front of the car. The final two shots appear to be aimed through the driver’s side window, after the car’s front bumper has already passed by the officer’s legs.
Since the killing, Trump administration officials have doubled down on the government’s version of events. Trump said on social media that the car “ran over” the officer, while Vice President JD Vance on Thursday accused Good of “attacking” agents and praised the officer for his actions.
The two shootings have drawn thousands of protesters in Minneapolis, Portland and other US cities. In Minnesota, Democratic Governor Tim Walz has put the state’s National Guard on alert. While the Minnesota operation is part of Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, the president has for months aimed political attacks at the state, particularly its large Somali-American community. Trump has called Somali immigrants “garbage,” railed against a sprawling welfare-fraud scandal and ridiculed Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2024. Walz announced earlier this week that he would not run for a third term, citing the time necessary to address the fraud scandal.