This isn’t really surprising, but we didn’t have good numbers coming out of China. It’s a safe bet that anything (and I do mean anything) coming out of the Peeps is tainted. That takes us down to South Korea and Italy. Our experts have used Italy as a warning of what happens if we don’t take immediate action. Italy was the nightmare scenario. That’s what panicked the UK and US governments.

And now we have a breakdown of the fatalities out of Italy.

More than 99% of Italy’s coronavirus fatalities were people who suffered from previous medical conditions, according to a study by the country’s national health authority.

The Rome-based institute has examined medical records of about 18% of the country’s coronavirus fatalities, finding that just three victims, or 0.8% of the total, had no previous pathology. Almost half of the victims suffered from at least three prior illnesses and about a fourth had either one or two previous conditions.

More than 75% had high blood pressure, about 35% had diabetes and a third suffered from heart disease.

The average age of those who’ve died from the virus in Italy is 79.5.

That high age may explain the presence of other medical conditions. 63% of people over 60 tend to have high blood pressure. So it’s a chicken and the egg question.

Italy does have one of the world’s oldest populations. 

As of March 17, 17 people under 50 had died from the disease. All of Italy’s victims under 40 have been males with serious existing medical conditions.

Again, not a real surprise, but it confirms what we already know.

According to the GIMBE Foundation, about 100,000 Italians have contracted the virus, daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported. That would bring back the country’s death rate closer to the global average of about 2%.

We’ll see what the numbers look like as testing becomes more extensive and the infected population grows.