Luke Letlow, USA congressman elect dies of Covid

[JacobReesMogadishu]

Age 41. No underlying conditions. With all the best drugs and medical care thrown at him!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55481711

Just shows how dangerous this can be no matter what your age.

No conditions apart from being male and overweight. It's not a great picture on the link but his face and shoulder breadth makes him look really quite overweight. Covid and weight scares me, it really does. I'm doing my best and have lost 20lbs in four months with the same to go again. Christmas gets in the way, but there's little more important and within our control that we can do than maintain a healthy weight.

I don’t think he’s that overweight. I mean he’s not skinny but i wouldn’t have called him fat.

Doesn't look overweight on any of the other pics of him I found online.

That's very sad, he has young children.

But don't forget that what we see as well padded vs fat vs obese these days is distorted. He's most definitely overweight, probably not obese no, but really quite overweight. We're blind to how little extra 'overweight' is, and how dangerous that can be medically. I'm so sorry for his children, I lost my parents at a very young age too, theirs and mine.

Right, but if he's at risk because he's 'male and overweight' then almost half the population is at risk.

It's still very worrying that a man less overweight than most men is at risk.

That's really tragic.

So young and with such young children. No point fat shaming a dead man! 🙄

Yes, I certainly wouldn’t look at him and think he’s overweight enough to cause health problems. Not even covid related ones.

I do hope it might make some “freedom loving” Americans reconsider their stance regarding civil liberties and mask wearing/social distancing.

I’m sure plenty of Americans are being sensible but the media seems full of reports of plenty who aren’t. Maybe this might make them have a rethink.

@picklemewalnuts

Right, but if he's at risk because he's 'male and overweight' then almost half the population is at risk.

It's still very worrying that a man less overweight than most men is at risk.

Yes, but only a few hundred under 60's have died of Covid this year in the UK, who had absolutely nothing wrong with them physically or mentally and were an ideal weight.

The thousands that have died had 'underlying conditions'. That's what the 'get back to normal now' brigade have been loudly shouting anyway.

@picklemewalnuts Exactly. And given that it's a numbers game, the more of us that get it then the more of us will be the unlucky 'few' who get seriously ill or die, especially given the increased transmission from the new variant even if it doesn't make people more ill.

@Beepbopadooda I'm not fat shaming him - I think I'm proportionately more overweight than he was, in fact I was not just fat but obese in September. It's taken me four months to be merely at the top end of overweight! My point is that the links between covid and weight and huge, and they terrify me personally.

The thousands that have died had 'underlying conditions'. That's what the 'get back to normal now' brigade have been loudly shouting anyway.

I don't get why that brigade thinks it's fine for people to die just because they have underlying conditions. Is it really OK for everyone with diabetes to be killed off, for example?

Surely this news isn't a surprise? A small number of healthy individuals will die, like with pneumonia. As others have said, he was overweight which may or may not have been a contributing factor.

@MaryLeeOnHigh

The thousands that have died had 'underlying conditions'. That's what the 'get back to normal now' brigade have been loudly shouting anyway.

I don't get why that brigade thinks it's fine for people to die just because they have underlying conditions. Is it really OK for everyone with diabetes to be killed off, for example?

It's othering, it makes people feel safe if it only affects others. This poor man is not what people envisage when they other overweight deaths, they imagine morbidly obese, as then it happens to others and not their husband /father.

@Beepbopadooda

So young and with such young children. No point fat shaming a dead man! 🙄

No one is fat-shaming him. They are simply highlighting an underlying condition.

Maybe it would help if instead of using vague words like 'overweight' we talked about the benefits of being lean or thin or wiry, none of which apply to me (especially after Christmas ), but all of which are better understood. Poor chap. What a blow for his wife and children.

Poor family.

There was an article published the other day saying that 73% of Americans are overweight; 42% of those are obese and 10% are severely obese.

So in American terms he probably looks very slim.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

Maybe it would help if instead of using vague words like 'overweight' we talked about the benefits of being lean or thin or wiry, none of which apply to me (especially after Christmas ), but all of which are better understood. Poor chap. What a blow for his wife and children.

I think they should mention BMI in these articles as that is a more objective measure and easy to understand and obtain. Anyone can check their own BMI at home so it’s a useful way of describing weight without offending or upsetting anyone. Weight is a sensitive issue and quite often related to mental health.

How can anyone look at this man and say he's overweight?

His twitter photo looks rather rotund.

@trulydelicious

How can anyone look at this man and say he's overweight?

Loads of people are saying he is overweight i can't see it and I am overweight!

Reports are indicating that this has much more to do with his refusal to wear masks in public gatherings than his weight.

@DownWhichOfLate

His stomach is giving in to gravity

He has a bit of a belly and his face is 'squarish' but I couldn't say he is overweight, no

@MissMarpletheMurderer

It's othering, it makes people feel safe if it only affects others

^This