If you have cancer, is Covid-19 disease worse? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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It stands to reason that people with cancer might be more susceptible to developing severe Covid-19 disease, and now a new analysis confirms it. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, describes the data.

Nelson: It does encompass 18500 subjects with cancer and Covid-19 diagnoses. The 30 day mortality ranged from 13% to 50-60%. Age, gender and comorbidity they all made a difference. The groups that did particularly poorly with cancer were folks with thoracic cancers. The other are hematologic cancers, particularly things like multiple myeloma, and melanoma. And the final group of course are folks undergoing bone marrow transplantation.  :30

Nelson says people with cancer should be sure to get fully vaccinated, received boosters, and use masks. They should also consider limiting their exposure to people they know are also vaccinated while avoiding large groups. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.