Wealth did have a very strong effect, just not the one we usually see. Poorer countries faired better against the disease itself: https://ourworldindata.org/gr

Wealth did have a very strong effect, just not the one we usually see. Poorer countries faired better against the disease itself: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-confirmed-deaths-of-covid-19-per-million-people-vs-gdp-per-capita https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-confirmed-deaths-of... And it's not population density either, otherwise Bangladesh and India would be leading the packs in deaths, but they're comfortably in the middle while much of Europe pushes the top. Where this falls apart is in government reaction to the disease, that has absolutely eviscerated the middle and poor classes.