English men are more likely to contract COVID-19 than women – and football could be to blame

English men were around 30% more at risk of contracting coronavirus between July 24 and July 5 – and scientists believe the Euro 2020 football tournament could be to blame.

According to the latest study released Thursday by Imperial College London, around one in 170 people got the virus in England between June 24 and July 5.

That’s four times higher than in the previous study period, which ran from May 20 to June 7, with scientists estimating the number of people testing positive has doubled every six days.

“In the most recent data, the risk in men was around 30% higher than that in women, which may reflect different patterns of social mix in England between men and women,” the study notes. .

Professor Paul Elliott, director of the React program at the Imperial Oil School of Public Health, speculated that men gathering in homes and pubs to watch football was a reason for the trend.

The study was carried out before tens of thousands of spectators watched England beat Denmark 2-1 in a semi-final match on Wednesday night at Wembley Stadium in London. England’s victory sparked scenes of savage jubilation elsewhere as fans celebrated the national team by achieving their first final in a major tournament since the 1966 World Cup. In Sunday’s final, England face the Italy, again at Wembley.

The study found that the epidemic has grown in all parts of the country but increased the most in London, the capital, with an eightfold increase.

Infection rates were three times lower in fully vaccinated people under 65 compared to unvaccinated people, although both groups experienced a similar proportional increase in infections.

The largest increase was seen in children aged 13 to 17, with infections eight times higher than in the previous study period, with around one in 70 people infected.

Scientists concluded that “the results indicate that England is currently experiencing a third substantial wave of infections”.

As of July 5, 86% of people over the age of 18 in England had received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 64% having received two doses.

Steven Riley, professor of infectious disease dynamics at the Imperial, noted in a statement that “although vaccines offer good protection against serious infections and diseases, people who are vaccinated are still at risk of getting sick from the virus and infect others “.

According to government data, more than 32,000 people tested positive in the 24 hours leading up to Wednesday afternoon and more than 192,000 new infections were recorded in the previous seven days, an increase of 42.8% from compared to the previous seven-day period.

The number of hospitalizations and deaths also jumped more than 40% week on week but remains well below that of the second wave with 33 deaths recorded on Wednesday.

Over 94% of infections in the UK are caused by the Delta variant, which originated in India, and has been shown to be up to 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant.