But obese and overweight people are the strain on the system. That's it, to the tune of 78% of hospitalizations as of March '21[1]. I sincerely doubt the number

But obese and overweight people are the strain on the system. That's it, to the tune of 78% of hospitalizations as of March '21[1]. I sincerely doubt the numbers have changed much since then and I'm not going to bother to look for a follow-up study. If people in the United States weren't outrageously unhealthy, this pandemic would not have caused the awfully high number of deaths that it did. You are totally correct that obesity doesn't spread exponentially, but it exponentially increases your risk of having a bad time with this disease. This will sound harsh, but I'm not really a fan of locking down young healthy people and forcing them to put their lives on pause because so much of America can't go for a run or get in the squat rack. The conversation no one wants to have right now, because were so steeped in arguing over what vaccines - mandated or not - can or cannot do, is one about how we actually get Americans to shed some weight and eat better. Ironically, closing the gyms "because covid" will make this problem worse. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/covid-cdc-study-finds-roughly-78percent-of-people-hospitalized-were-overweight-or-obese.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/covid-cdc-study-finds-roughl...