CDC: Two-Thirds of COVID-19 Patients Ages 12-17 are Obese

New t-shirts that read “Mandate Exercise” are gaining popularity and even the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) may be all for it. Childhood obesity has already been deemed a pandemic for years, but the spread of coronavirus highlighted just how dangerous it is.

A recent study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found “approximately two-thirds of COVID-19 patients aged 12-17 were obese, and the length of stay in the hospital was twice that of non-obese adolescents” reports CBS17.

The CDC found that in addition to obesity, 34.7 percent of children with an underlying condition were more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit than those without an underlying condition at 23.9 percent.

The study, which included hospitals in Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana and Texas, found “of the patients hospitalized for COVID-19, the most common underlying conditions were obesity at 32.4 percent, followed by asthma at 10 percent, and then feeding tube dependence at 8.3 percent.

The researchers also found that the majority of the children hospitalized for COVID-19 were Black or Hispanic, and either under the age of 5 or between 12 and 17 years old. The study found that only 0.4 percent of those hospitalized adolescents who were vaccine-eligible were fully vaccinated.

In 2018 the CDC released a report that childhood obesity affected approximately 14 million children and adolescents in America. Add a viral pandemic to the equation and it does indeed look like “mandate exercise” is our best bet.