Delfraissy, who leads a scientific council in charge of advising the French government on the coronavirus pandemic, said that around 17 million of France’s 67 million citizens face severe risk from the coronavirus due to age, pre-existing medical conditions or obesity.
“This virus is terrible, it can hit young people, in particular obese young people. Those who are overweight really need to be careful,” Delfraissy said, Reuters reported.
“That is why we’re worried about our friends in America, where the problem of obesity is well known and where they will probably have the most problems because of obesity,” he added.
Delfraissy also explained that around 88% of people who become infected with the virus experience flu-like symptoms and that the mortality rate for young people being hospitalized with the virus in France is around 2%, but it rose to 14% among those with other risk factors.
There are around 112,000 cases of the virus in France, according to the latest data by Worldometer. However, the number of people who have developed immunity is lower than France’s experts expected.
“Initial data show that the number of people who may have developed immunity is lower than we imagined, about 10-15%,” Delfraissy noted, explaining that between 50% and 60% of France’s population would have to contract and recover from the disease in order for the country to achieve a certain level of “herd immunity,” which would make it difficult for the virus to spread.
France’s lockdown started on March 17 and will continue until at least April 15. The scientific council has recommended that the lockdown be maintained for several more weeks, until the spread of the virus is slowed down even further.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have also noted that those at high risk for COVID-19 include people who are age 65 or older, live in nursing homes or long-term facilities, are immunocompromised, are severely obese and/or have illnesses such as chronic lung disease, moderate or severe asthma, serious heart conditions, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and liver disease.