Abstract

Obesity and overweight are common and serious chronic diseases in the United States. Obesity/overweight puts people at more risk of many other diseases including diabetes, heart diseases, and certain cancers. This study explores the relationship between the percentage of obese/overweight population and COVID-19 confirmed cases/deaths per 100,000 population at a county level over the U.S. Statistical analyses show that counties with more percentage of obese/overweight population significantly experienced more COVID-19 confirmed cases/deaths determined by ANOVA (F(3,3103)) = 77.188, p = .000 and ANOVA (F(3,3103)) = 109.626, p = .000 for cases and deaths, respectively.