re: Data on Underlying Conditions in Louisiana (COVID-19 Deaths)

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No, that's not an assumption that the data supports.

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If that's not an assumption supported, then why isn't there a row that says no underlying conditions

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Half? Disagree there considering 35% of Louisiana is obese and this board is mostly college graduates so its likely on average the board is skinnier then society as a whole.

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You're overthinking this. There are only two alternatives: you are fat; you are not fat. 50/50 bruh!

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What if its not the diagnosis, but the medication? In order for patients to be classified as having a comorbidity, they would have had a previously diagnosed and treated condition. What if ace inhibitors or ARBs became the vehicle that the virus took to enter the respiratory system?

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My thought is that two of the biggies on that list - HTN and DM - have a very high correlation to endothelial damage or at the very least dysfunction, and obesity feeds back into the two of those. From a logical standpoint when one takes into account that ARDS (or perhaps an ARDS-like syndrome) is typically the pathway towards death or at least critical disease the theory of endothelial dysfunction/damage being a key component would make a lot of sense.

With regards to ACE inhibitors and ARB drugs, as many here are aware, those are common players in hypertension alone, but especially when HTN is paired with DM. There is very good laboratory evidence that SARS-CoV-2 binds to ACE-2 receptors in pulmonary tissue (specifically Type II alveolar cells) and can have a direct cytotoxic effect leading to lung damage and impaired gas exchange. This is the basis for the hypothesis that perhaps ACEIs/ARBs can facilitate viral infection by upregulating the production of ACE2 receptors (the receptor that the drug actuallly blocks) leading to more landing spots for the virus. However there is also a hypothetical pathway involving the actual action of the drug whereby ACEI/ARB could be potentially helpful, so in otherwords the jury is still out with regards to the whole ACEI/ARB question. There is a nice paper in JAMA with summary recommendations that I have linked (should be open access during the Pandemic).

JAMA (COVID-19 in RASB)

edited to add link