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Related: About this forumStudy shows fewer COVID-19 cases in high-altitude regions
Regional REGIONAL | 22h ago
Libby Stanford
Summit Daily News
People who grew up at high elevations might be less susceptible to the novel coronavirus, according to a recent study of the virus impact in high-altitude communities like Summit County.
The study, which was published by the Respiratory Physiology and Neurobiology journal, compared case data for the virus among communities in Bolivia, Tibet and Ecuador and found that cities and towns in higher elevations have reported fewer COVID-19 cases.
According to Bolivias Ministry of Health website, La Paz, Bolivia, has reported 328 cases of the virus and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, has reported 2,300 cases as of Friday. La Paz sits 11,943 feet above sea level with a population of 2.7 million people. Santa Cruz is 1,365 feet above sea level with a population of 1.6 million people. For some context, Breckenridge is 9,600 feet above sea level.
This is data that strongly suggests that high altitude is protective, said Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja, director of the High Altitude Pulmonary and Pathology Institute in La Paz and one of the researchers on the study.
More:
https://www.aspentimes.com/news/regional/study-shows-fewer-covid-19-cases-in-high-altitude-regions/
Also posted in Science:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/122869506
Loki Liesmith
(4,602 posts)LizBeth
(9,946 posts)niyad
(112,435 posts)alittlelark
(18,886 posts)SWBTATTReg
(21,859 posts)altitude will have negative impacts on those w/ breathing problems anyways, so I don't know if the trade offs is better or not...I guess it's a either this or that situation. Go one way, and catch the CV, get ill and/or die, and go the other way, and not be able to breath, and die of oxygen deprivation. Hmmmm...
What they don't say is that those that live at those altitudes do have enlarged lung capacity to handle the thinner air (on a PBS show, don't recall when/where/etc. when aired), so perhaps an overdeveloped lung capacity helps them in fighting off the CV (besides the CV, and thinner air)?
snpsmom
(638 posts)the disease looks a lot like altitude sickness.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,750 posts)says the woman who lives at 7,000 feet.
Maybe that's part of the reason we have relatively few cases here in New Mexico. But I do want to point out that the Navajo Nation has been disproportionately affected here, which probably has a lot to do with the poverty, lack of running water, small and crowded homes.
OregonBlue
(7,744 posts)lung capacity and thinner blood?