As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, doctors are confronting the stark reality that the virus doesn’t seem to kill equally. From the data available so far, we’ve learned that men are at a far higher risk of dying from the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, than are women.
In both Michigan and Washington state, for example, data on reported cases show more women than men have contracted the coronavirus. But men make up more than half of the deaths in both states. In New York, men have both contracted and died from the coronavirus at higher rates.
The differences in mortality are often put down to men behaving more riskily. But there’s another explanation for women’s immunological advantage. According to Sharon Moalem, a physician and author, women have an inherent advantage when it comes to diseases because of their two X chromosomes.
