Right Place, Wrong Time?: Human Development and COVID-19
Written by Natalie Madrigal
Edited by Khushi Shah
January 5, 2023
Edited by Khushi Shah
January 5, 2023
It is no surprise that after all the challenges placed upon the world by the global COVID-19 pandemic that human development across the world became constrained. Dr. Quentin De Larochelambert from the Institute for Research in bioMedicine and Epidemiology of Sport (IRMES) along with fellow researchers at the Center of Integrated Biology (CBI) in Paris, France conducted a study to characterize non-viral parameters that were most associated with COVID-19 death rates. And ultimately identify regions of the globe that were left particularly vulnerable to pandemic impacts as a result.
Fatality case data was collected from 166 countries that had declared at least ten deaths due to COVID-19. Fatality rates were then tested against major indices from five domains: demography, public health, economy, politics, and environment. This worked to convey data within the domains such as demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status and health parameters that were then ultimately examined in studying possible correlation to reported death outcomes due to COVID-19. Using the data collected from the first eight months of 2020, it was then processed through a principal component analysis and a Pearson correlation test.
Out of all factors observed, the criteria found to be most associated with death rate are life expectancy, non-communicable disease and infectious disease burden, growth of national product, and environmental temperature. However, in terms of life expectancy, COVID-19 mortality was actually found to be higher in countries with higher life expectancy - a result of higher chronic disease levels.
Meanwhile, enforcement measures of the pandemic such as lockdown, were found to have little to no correlation to death rate. From the data collected, it was found that higher COVID death rates overall were observed in the 25/65° latitude and -35/-125° longitude ranges. Consequently, this is where over 78% of all COVID-19 deaths globally were recorded and included areas like Spain, Italy, and parts of the Americas like Texas. As a result of these factors, northern and western countries were found to have the most severe toll to COVID-19.