Are we underestimating how many people are resistant to Covid-19?
Scientists are racing to work out why some populations have fared better than others during the pandemic
During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, cities were in general affected worse than smaller conurbations or rural areas. Yet in Italy, Rome was relatively spared while the villages of Lombardy experienced very high rates of sickness and death. Then again, one Lombard village - Ferrara Erbognone - stood out for not recording a single case of Covid-19 at the height of the wave. Nobody knows why.
The puzzle is not just Italian. From the beginning, Covid-19 struck unevenly across the globe, and scientists have been trying to understand the reasons. Why are some populations or sectors of a population more vulnerable than others? Or to turn the question around, why are some groups relatively protected?
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