[paganel]

Maybe there's a genetic component to this virus? Which is "verboten" to be discussed and analysed because of various reasons ("race is a social construct" and all that), but at some point one has to take this into consideration too. All due respect to Laos, but I don't see it as having the needed expert infrastructure in order to keep this virus under control as well as they have. Similar discussion for Thailand.

[henearkr]

Some vaccines that are compulsory in Japan and China (and other Asian countries) but not in the rest of the world are also suspected to geographically shape some immunity differences.

For example the vaccine against Japanese Encephalitis is under investigation for a possible cross-effect on covid immunity.

[ethbr0]

It's less likely there's a genetic component to infection rates (though possible!) than a population-immunological one.

It's been experimentally verified that various pre-pandemic coronavirus antibodies are reactive against SARS-CoV-2.

It's a fact that different world populations have to deal with different endemic disease profiles.

Consequently, different populations have different pre-infection susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2. [0]

[0] https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)32310-9/ful...

[dekhn]

it's perfectly acceptable to talk scientifically about the difference in races (really, people with shared population history) by genetics and their responses to disease. THe people who are saying "race is social construct" are by and large not the actual scientists making discoveries in this area. REad the NYTimes science section for a few months and you'll see they commonly discuss the difference in medical treatment research and how we could improve health care by being more aware of it.

[thomasz]

The key is age and obesity.