since the start of covid-19, more men have died from the novel coronavirus than women. in
china
,
italy
, and in
the u.s.
, reports of deaths were significantly higher in men. even now, in the latest surveillance report from the world health organization,
56 per cent of worldwide covid-19 deaths have been in men
. while the exact reasons are still unclear, the reason could be linked to anything from biology to behaviours.
a new study published in the
proceedings of the national academy of sciences journal
may give insight into the gender divide.
earlier in the pandemic, italian researchers surveyed 21,649 people in eight countries: australia, austria, france, germany, italy, new zealand, the u.k. and the u.s. they found that women were more likely to adhere to covid-19 public health guidelines, making them less vulnerable to the virus compared to men.
in fact, in march, 59 per cent of women versus 48.7 per cent of men were likely to consider covid-19 a very serious health problem. in april, women were more inclined to agree with public health policies like physical distancing (39.6 per cent) than men (33 per cent). over time, participants’ compliance with rules started to drop, with germany seeing the largest gender divide, with
70.5 per cent of women continuing to follow virus prevention guidelines, compared to 63.7 per cent of men.