Earlier this summer, a consortium that included more than 3,000 researchers and scientists from around the world jointly published a summary analysis on genetic clues linked to both the susceptibility to COVID-19 and to the most severe cases of people who contracted the virus.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Published in the journal Nature,<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03767-x"> the paper notes</a> 13 genetic associations found in genes or gene regions involved in such things as immune response, blood type, and lung disease.
The findings help shed light on the biological pathways in not just how people become sick with the virus but why some people become severely ill from it. The hope is that these <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">genetic insights</a> will help researchers hunting for therapeutics for treating the virus.
“The better we get at treating COVID-19, the better equipped the medical community could be to manage the disease,” said<a href="https://www.broadinstitute.org/node/7003"> Ben Neale</a>, co-director of the<a href="https://www.broadinstitute.org/node/8507"> Program in Medical and Population Genetics</a> at the Broad and co-senior author of the study. “If we had a mechanism of treating infection and getting someone out of the hospital, that would radically alter our public health response.”
But almost as striking as the genetic findings are the level of collaboration among scientists that formed into this loose consortium known as the<a href="https://www.covid19hg.org/"> COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative</a>. The initiative began in March of 2020 by scientists at the<a href="https://www.fimm.fi/en/"> Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki</a>, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and quickly grew from there.&nbsp;
Among the researchers are those from both the private and public sector, from academic institutions and public companies — including scientists from 23andMe — who joined forces to pool what they’ve learned.
“This has exceeded anything I’ve seen in my lifetime,” said Janie Shelton, a 23andMe senior scientist, and epidemiologist. “The rate we’ve been able to collaborate with international teams to uncover the genetic vulnerability to COVID-19 has been incredible.”
Over the last year, several participants in the initiative have already published their findings that ultimately became part of this broader paper. For instance, 23andMe published last June on our findings around genetic associations between the genes that <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/blood-type-and-covid-19/">influence blood type</a> and a person’s susceptibility to COVID-19 and the severity of their symptoms. This year, we published on genetic associations with COVID-19 and<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/scientists-find-genetic-link-to-loss-of-smell-among-covid-19-patients/"> loss of smell and taste</a>, as well as created a tool to help people better understand<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/health-traits/covid-19-severity-calculator/"> the non-genetic factors</a> that contribute to a higher risk for hospitalization due to the virus.
Since launching our<a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19-study/"> COVID-19 Research Study</a> soon after the pandemic began, we have been sharing our findings with the broader scientific and medical community to help address this health crisis.
As Janie said in an interview earlier this year:
“It’s important for us to unveil our findings as publicly as possible.”
The researchers now plan to focus their attention on so-called “long-haulers,” people who have had the virus who continue to have symptoms for months.
You can read more about the paper<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03767-x"> here</a>.
&nbsp;

A logo for 23andMe's COVID-19 Research Study

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Scientists Cooperate to Map the Human Genetics of COVID-19

Researchers at 23andMe have identified a new <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">genetic variant</a> associated with COVID-19 induced loss of smell and taste.
The findings, published in a preprint released on <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.28.21257993v1">medRxiv</a>, note that the genetic variant is near two olfactory genes.  Loss of smell and, or taste — also called anosmia — is a hallmark symptom of COVID-19. It is often the earliest indication of infection, and in some cases, the only symptom. An individual with one copy of the variant is about 11.5 percent more likely to lose their sense of smell or taste if infected compared to someone with zero copies.
<h6>23andMe COVID-19 Study</h6>
The research adds another piece to the COVID-19 puzzle, and it builds on the work already done by 23andMe over the last year that includes new findings around <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-covid-study-published/">the role blood type plays </a>in severity and susceptibility to the virus. This piece of the puzzle is intriguing because the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 first enters the body and accumulates in olfactory support cells. The findings may offer researchers important insights into the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biological pathway for infection</a>.
For these findings, the researchers again used data from more than one million people who consented to participate in 23andMe’s <a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19-study/">COVID-19 Study</a>.  By examining the differences in the genome between COVID-19 cases who did and did not experience loss of taste or smell, our scientists identified an association on chromosome 4 near the olfactory genes UGT2A1 and UGT2A2 (Figure 1 and Figure 2a). 
<div id="attachment_28919" style="width: 890px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28919" class="size-larger wp-image-28919" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ugt2a1-2-880x451.png" alt="A Manhattan plot showing a strong association in the genes UGT2a1/2" width="880" height="451" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ugt2a1-2-880x451.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ugt2a1-2-300x154.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ugt2a1-2-768x394.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ugt2a1-2-1024x525.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ugt2a1-2-1180x605.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ugt2a1-2.png 1494w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px" />Figure 1. Manhattan plot of loss of smell vs. no loss of smell among those with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test.</div>
<h6>Relevant for All Ethnicities</h6>
The scientists ran separate genome-wide association studies for individuals of European, Latino, African American, East Asian, and South Asian ancestries, and then combined the data via a meta-analysis. The researchers evaluated the effect of the top-associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the different ancestral populations (Figure 2).
<div id="attachment_28918" style="width: 522px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28918" class="size-full wp-image-28918" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/COVID-smell-snp-plot.png" alt="" width="512" height="398" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/COVID-smell-snp-plot.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/COVID-smell-snp-plot-300x233.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" />Figure 2a. Regional plot of the association detected in the vicinity of UGT2A1/2. </div>
<div id="attachment_28917" style="width: 522px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28917" class="size-full wp-image-28917" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Covid-smell-p-values.png" alt="" width="512" height="315" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Covid-smell-p-values.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Covid-smell-p-values-300x185.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /> Figure 2b. Population effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals.</div>
Those results show no evidence of a difference in the SNP effect between populations, although there is limited power to detect associations in the non-European populations. Nonetheless, the frequency of the risk allele does differ somewhat by population. It is most commonly observed in individuals of European ancestry (37 percent) and least commonly observed in individuals of East Asian ancestry (19 percent) (Table 1).
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Population</td>
<td>Variant frequency</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Europe</td>
<td>37%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>South Asian</td>
<td>32%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>African American</td>
<td>31%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Latino</td>
<td>30%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>East Asian</td>
<td>19%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Table 1. Allele frequencies by population or rs7688383
<h6>Among the Most Common Symptoms</h6>
Early in the outbreak, the loss of smell and taste was recognized as a means to distinguish between patients with COVID-19 and those with simple colds or flu. That is, if you felt sick and had a loss of smell or taste, you were much more likely to have COVID-19 than another respiratory infection (<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0916-2">1</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7386529.1/">2</a>).
In the 23andMe COVID-19 study, two-thirds (68 percent) of those who tested positive for the virus reported loss of smell or taste, compared to just 17 percent of those who tested negative (Figure 3). Furthermore, in a model adjusted for other symptoms, age, and sex, the loss of smell or taste carried a seven-fold increased likelihood of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 among those reporting illness.
<div id="attachment_28916" style="width: 522px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28916" class="size-full wp-image-28916" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/COVID-symptoms.png" alt="" width="512" height="316" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/COVID-symptoms.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/COVID-symptoms-300x185.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" />Figure 3. Frequency of symptoms reported among respondents with a cold or flu-like illness who did and did not have a positive SARS-CoV-2 result in the 23andMe study, ordered by percentage difference.</div>
<h6>Looking by Age</h6>
When the researchers looked at the symptoms by age, they found that among younger people with COVID-19 the loss of smell and taste was more common. Among those aged 26-35, 73 percent reported loss of smell, whereas only 43 percent reported loss of smell in those 85 or older (Figure 4). When the researchers looked at differences between men and women they found that women were more likely than men to report loss of smell or taste (72 percent  vs. 61 percent). While it is known that age is associated with lower sensitivity to smell, these findings held up when adjusted for self-reported ability to smell in advance of infection with SARS-CoV-2.
<div id="attachment_28915" style="width: 890px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28915" class="size-larger wp-image-28915" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Loss-of-Smell-by-Age-880x545.png" alt="" width="880" height="545" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Loss-of-Smell-by-Age-880x545.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Loss-of-Smell-by-Age-300x186.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Loss-of-Smell-by-Age-768x476.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Loss-of-Smell-by-Age-1024x634.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Loss-of-Smell-by-Age-1180x731.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Loss-of-Smell-by-Age.png 1544w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px" />Figure 4. COVID-19 related loss of smell by age group</div>
<h6>More About the Genetic Association</h6>
Little is known about what the genetic variant (rs7688383) does, or how it impacts the likelihood of losing your smell or taste during infection with SARS-CoV-2. But the olfactory genes UGT2A1/2 are part of a family of enzymes called uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferases and are expressed in the olfactory epithelium and metabolize odorant compounds. In the 23andMe database, both of these genes are related to such things as <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/genes-scream-for-ice-cream/">ice-cream</a> taste preference and ability to smell as measured by a self-reported five-point scale ranging from very poor to very good.
Recent evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 enters and accumulates in olfactory support cells, which abundantly express the viral entry proteins ACE2 and TMPRSS2 (<a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/31/eabc5801">3</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7241737/">4</a>). It has been proposed that olfactory sensation is impaired when these essential functions are disrupted, causing olfactory receptor neuron cilial impairment (<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7488171/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7488171/">5</a>). Given their localization and essential function in the metabolization and detoxification of compounds in the olfactory epithelium, the genes identified here, UGT2A1/2, may play a role in the physiology of infected cells and the resulting changes to the cilia that contribute to our ability to smell.
Many thanks to the over 1 million research participants who answered our questionnaire and made this research possible. 
*The 23andMe COVID-19 research team includes: Adam Auton, Adrian Chubb, Alison Fitch, Alison Kung, Amanda Altman, Andy Kill, Anjali Shastri, Antony Symons, Catherine Weldon, Chelsea Ye, Daniella Coker, Janie Shelton, Jason Tan, Jeff Pollard, Jey McCreight, Jess Bielenberg, John Matthews, Johnny Lee, Lindsey Tran, Maya Lowe, Michelle Agee, Monica Royce, Nate Tang, Pooja Gandhi, Raffaello d’Amore, Ruth Tennen, Scott Dvorak, Scott Hadly, Stella Aslibekyan, Sungmin Park, Taylor Morrow, Teresa Filshtein Sonmez, Trung Le, and Yiwen Zheng. 
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Scientists Find Genetic Link to Loss of Smell Among COVID-19 Patients

If you&#8217;ve had trouble sleeping over the last year, you&#8217;re not alone, according to a new national sleep survey from 23andMe.
The new data indicate that another side-effect of the pandemic is that a lot of us are having more difficulty falling asleep. When we finally do, we&#8217;re waking up more at night or having COVID-related or health-related dreams, according to the online survey conducted in early March.
&#8220;The survey offers another proof point for the impact of the pandemic and the ensuing stay-at-home orders,&#8221; said Eric Rasmussen, 23andMe’s Director of Consumer Insights &amp; Product Marketing. &#8220;What we don&#8217;t know yet, but something 23andMe scientists would like to know, is how much of an impact these disruptions might have on people&#8217;s <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry">long-term health</a>.&#8221;

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="675" height="711" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Empty-Bed.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17852" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Empty-Bed.jpg 675w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Empty-Bed-285x300.jpg 285w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px" /></figure>
 
<h6>COVID Dreams</h6>
The sleep survey results indicate just how much the pandemic has disrupted people&#8217;s lives.
More than a quarter of those surveyed reported having trouble falling asleep. At the same time, about 23 percent of those surveyed said they were waking up more than usual. Another 19 percent of the survey respondents said they were restless through the night. One in ten of those surveyed said they either dreamed about COVID-19 or had other health-related dreams.
While not unexpected, the survey gives more data showing how the disruption to work, school, and social interactions have impacted people. Over half of the participants surveyed, 55 percent, were either furloughed, laid off, or working from home. A majority of this group said they were waking up later than they did before the pandemic — 60 percent and 64 percent, respectively. This change could be attributed to a disruption in daily routine, added stress from job loss, or the pandemic&#8217;s uncertainty.
<h6>Sleep Studies</h6>
Sleep and stress each play a role in overall health. 23andMe scientists and their collaborators have looked at several components of sleep, including <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1006125">wake times</a>,<a href="https://research.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Y_Huang_ASHG18_final.pdf"> sleep apnea,</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S019745802030124X?via%3Dihub">REM sleep</a>. 23andMe also offers customers throughout its services various reports on obstructive sleep apnea, sleep movement, deep sleep, and more. Each of these different sleep-related issues could affect sleep patterns and contribute to restlessness.
The data from 23andMe&#8217;s sleep survey is consistent with other published data over the last few months, indicating the pandemic&#8217;s impact on sleep. A<a href="https://nutrition.bmj.com/content/early/2021/03/03/bmjnph-2021-000228"> study published in early March</a> noted that sleep disruption and stress among healthcare workers during the pandemic is also associated with a higher risk of infection and more severe symptoms from COVID-19. But broad population-wide changes in sleep patterns are notoriously difficult to study.
<h6>Waking Later</h6>
The survey offers one way to look at those changes. But 23andMe&#8217;s research model is also uniquely able to look at sleep patterns more broadly. Over the last year, 23andMe research biostatistician, Teresa Filshtein Sonmez, Ph.D., has looked at data on activity levels and sleep among more than 130,000 consented 23andMe research participants. The sleep data is challenging to understand because our data come from smart devices rather than sleep trackers. Specifically, we know when a device becomes inactive at night, how long each device has been inactive at night, and when a device first becomes active the next morning. Device inactivity is not a direct measure of sleep but can be used to detect substantial changes in our customers’ behavior. By measuring smartphone activity and inactivity, Teresa can gauge changes in when research participants will sleep, wake up, and how long they were asleep.
According to the sleep data, people began sleeping more and waking up later immediately after the first shelter-in-place orders went into effect in March of 2020. In the beginning, people slept a lot more, 1.5 hours more each night, according to the data.

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="819" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/wake_time_plot-1024x819.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28858" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/wake_time_plot-1024x819.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/wake_time_plot-300x240.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/wake_time_plot-768x614.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/wake_time_plot-880x704.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/wake_time_plot-1180x944.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
 
While this wasn&#8217;t a measure of sleep quality, it does show a significant change in sleep patterns due to the pandemic. That new pattern has also changed, however. Over the course of 2020, people adjusted to new schedules, and their sleep patterns crept back to what they were like before.

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="819" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/sleep_time_plot-1024x819.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28857" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/sleep_time_plot-1024x819.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/sleep_time_plot-300x240.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/sleep_time_plot-768x614.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/sleep_time_plot-880x704.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/sleep_time_plot-1180x944.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
 
Sleep patterns have slowly crept back toward pre-pandemic patterns. Still, the internal 23andMe research data indicate that people continue to sleep later and get up later each day. But now, instead of sleeping an hour-and-a-half more each night, as they did right at the beginning of the pandemic, they&#8217;re sleeping an hour longer.
The data from 23andMe&#8217;s sleep survey, together with data from 23andMe&#8217;s internal research, shows how the pandemic has transformed lives. The larger question about how this may or may not impact overall health still needs to be studied. And these insights come as another disruption looms on the horizon, with many workers going back into the office or their children going back to school.

The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on Sleep

Using insights from <a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19-study/">23andMe&#8217;s COVID-19 Research Study</a>, our scientists have created a new interactive tool to help people better understand factors that contribute to a higher risk for hospitalizations due to the virus.
The <a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19/">COVID-19 Severity Calculator</a>* allows people to see how certain non-genetic factors may impact the risk for hospitalization due to the virus. Using only data from 23andMe customers who consented to participate in our COVID-19 Research Study — and no data from outside sources — the tool looks at such things as age, exercise frequency, and health history, which may contribute to the likelihood of hospitalization from contracting the virus.&nbsp;
&nbsp;

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="536" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/covid-calculator-1200x628-1-1024x536.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28728" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/covid-calculator-1200x628-1-1024x536.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/covid-calculator-1200x628-1-300x157.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/covid-calculator-1200x628-1-768x402.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/covid-calculator-1200x628-1-880x461.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/covid-calculator-1200x628-1-1180x618.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/covid-calculator-1200x628-1.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
 
<h6>More Information</h6>
&#8220;We created the Severity Calculator because people who have visited <a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19/">23andMe’s COVID-19 Information Center</a> have consistently been asking for more information about the severity of the virus infection and what factors into why it impacts some people harder than others,&#8221; said Janie F. Shelton, Ph.D., MPH, a Senior Scientist at 23andMe who worked on the COVID-19 Research Study.
 “In addition to publishing our COVID-19 study results for the benefit of the greater scientific community, we wanted to look for additional ways in which people could utilize insights gleaned from our research,” Janie said. 

&nbsp;

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="944" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Risk-Calculator-1024x944.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-28731" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Risk-Calculator-1024x944.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Risk-Calculator-300x277.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Risk-Calculator-768x708.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Risk-Calculator-880x812.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Risk-Calculator.jpg 1158w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
 
<h6>Insights into Risk Factors</h6>
That desire to learn more about the virus and its potential impact has only grown in the last few months as cases continue to surge. While the COVID-19 Severity Calculator offers insight into factors that contribute to the risk for hospitalization from the virus among 23andMe research participants, it is not meant to be used as a predictor for a person’s individual risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms. 
And no matter what the result, everyone should absolutely maintain the precautions and protocols implemented by local, state, and federal health officials. It does not predict a person&#8217;s individual risk for hospitalization. It also does not look at all possible factors that can impact the chances of being hospitalized due to COVID-19.

<h6>Research Data</h6>
Our research, and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03065-y">other studies</a>, have shown that genetics does play an important role in the susceptibility to the virus and the severity of the disease. Last fall, our scientists <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.04.20188318v1">published findings</a> from the COVID-19 Research Study that showed associations between both the ABO blood group and genes involved in the immune response and COVID-19 susceptibility or severity. But the study also found that non-genetic factors play a significant role.&nbsp;
The COVID-19 Severity Calculator looks only at those non-genetic factors. The Severity Calculator enables individuals to input some of those non-genetic factors. It then uses statistical modeling to estimate the likelihood of hospitalization. The statistical modeling uses data collected from more than a million people who participated in the 23andMe COVID-19 Research Study. Of those who participated, nearly 10,000 were diagnosed with the virus, and nearly 750 were hospitalized with severe symptoms.&nbsp;
Using the COVID-19 Severity Calculator highlights how certain underlying health conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes significantly increased the risk for hospitalization for COVID-19. For example, our data showed that research participants with the virus who exercised at least once a week were almost 20 percent less likely to be hospitalized than those who did not exercise. In addition, our study found that simply being overweight increased the risk for hospitalization by about 34 percent over those with a normal body mass index among those participating in our study.&nbsp;
The COVID-19 Severity Calculator can illuminate how a few underlying health conditions might factor into hospitalizations due to the virus. However, it does not take into account all factors that might increase the likelihood of hospitalization.&nbsp;
<hr>
*The data powering this tool is from 23andMe consented research participants and does not represent the general U.S. population. There are also biases in the data that could affect the model. For example, individuals who died after being hospitalized for COVID-19 are not included in the data set, leading to an underestimate of hospitalization rates. This tool also does not include all possible factors that can impact the chances of being hospitalized due to COVID-19. This tool does not consider personal genetic information, nor does it predict any individual person&#8217;s chances of being hospitalized if they become infected with the coronavirus. Estimates are not available for people younger than 20 or older than 90, or for specific ancestries other than European, African American, or Hispanic, or Latino because sufficient data is not available. The strength of the associations in this tool may vary by geographic region or date of infection over the course of the pandemic. Two demographic inputs to the statistical model — median income per ZIP code and education level — are held constant at their sample median and mean, respectively.

23andMe’s New COVID-19 Severity Calculator

Even with promising <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-29418 size-larger" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/COVID-Image-880x410.png" alt="" width="880" height="410" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/COVID-Image-880x410.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/COVID-Image-300x140.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/COVID-Image-768x358.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/COVID-Image-1024x477.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/COVID-Image-1180x550.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/COVID-Image.png 1394w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px" />
As the World Health Organization leaders<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus/wrapup-1-europe-must-grit-our-teeth-on-covid-19-as-vaccine-euphoria-fades-idUSL1N2HY1Q0"> said recently</a>: &#8220;We may be tired of COVID-19, but it is not tired of us.&#8221;
To help our customers and others during this next phase in the pandemic, 23andMe wanted to remind readers of its <a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19/">COVID-19 Information Center</a>. To create this resource, our scientists culled through data from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). We also condensed data from our own COVID-19 research study looking at genetic differences in both susceptibility and severity of the disease. The site includes data from both sources and offers people a place to learn more about the virus. It also highlights conditions that carry added risks, and actions you can take to lessen your risk.
<h6>Growing Numbers</h6>
With the numbers and rate of infections continuing to climb this fall, taking preventative actions and understanding risk is even more critical than ever. It&#8217;s sobering to note that in just nine months, the number of confirmed cases in the United States went from one to more than 10 million.
Beyond the stunning trajectory in the rate of infections, the numbers also illustrate that the virus hits each person differently. The virus can be deadly for some.  Projections estimate that deaths from COVID in the U.S. will <a href="https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view=total-deaths&amp;tab=trend">exceed 300,000 by the end of 2020</a>. For many others, infections will mean hospitalization, or it may result in on-going health issues. But for the majority of those who are infected, the effects may be relatively mild.
<h6>Differences in Susceptibility and Severity</h6>
A need to understand why that is, why the virus hits some so much harder than others, helped drive <a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19-study/">23andMe&#8217;s COVID-19 Study</a>. We learned a lot. That genetics — specifically blood type — might play a role in the illness&#8217;s susceptibility and severity. We <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-covid-study-published/">published our findings</a> in September and shared them with other researchers worldwide looking for new treatments for the virus.
But we also know that other non-genetic factors also play a significant role, including age and underlying chronic health conditions. We included some of this data in our study. For example, the data shows that underlying chronic health conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes significantly increased the risk for hospitalization for COVID-19. Simply being overweight increased the risk for hospitalization by about 34 percent over those with average body mass index among those participating in our study.
<h6>Other Underlying Chronic Health Conditions</h6>
In our COVID-19 Information Center, we used preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control. The information center gives people a way to learn how chronic health conditions might add to their hospitalization risk. (Editor’s Note: This data was from early in the pandemic, and the hospitalization rates have changed since then.)
For example, people with COVID-19 who also have chronic renal disease were almost three times as likely to be hospitalized as others with the virus, according to the CDC data. About three-quarters of patients with the virus and with chronic renal disease were admitted to the hospital. This compares to about 23 percent of all patients with COVID-19 in the study. More than a quarter, (28 percent) of those with COVID-19 and chronic renal disease were admitted to the ICU. This is compared to 7 percent of all COVID-19 patients.
The COVID-19 Information Center also looks at how smoking may increase the risk of hospitalization for those infected. Current or former smokers with COVID were more likely to wind up in the hospital, according to the data. About 43 percent of current and former smokers with the virus required hospitalization and 15 percent were admitted to the ICU.
Those interested in learning more about these and other risk factors can find the COVID-19 Information Center<a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19/"> here</a>. You can learn more about 23andMe’s COVID-19 Study<a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19-study/"> here</a>.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-28653 size-large" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Covid-Info-center.png" alt="" width="1024" height="173" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Covid-Info-center.png 2368w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Covid-Info-center-300x51.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Covid-Info-center-1024x173.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Covid-Info-center-768x130.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Covid-Info-center-880x149.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Covid-Info-center-1180x199.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />

23andMe’s COVID-19 Information Center

Data shows that people&#8217;s activity level is back to pre-pandemic levels
By: Teresa Filshtein Sonmez &amp; Stella Aslibekyan*
A few months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a consistent narrative has emerged: people were <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-28313 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GettyImages-1143880641-300x193.jpg" alt="Steps" width="300" height="193" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GettyImages-1143880641-300x193.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GettyImages-1143880641.jpg 736w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
However, the timeframe for most of these studies does not extend past June 2020. Did the decline in activity continue as the work from home trend gained strength and the schools remained closed? Or did people adapt to the new realities of post-COVID-19 life, finding some return to normal in physical exercise?
<h6>An Inflection Point</h6>
New data collected and analyzed by 23andMe appears to support the second scenario. Following the initial 22 percent drop in daily steps during the first month of the epidemic in the US, the average number of daily steps taken by our research participants went back up to the pre-shelter-in-place levels.
The inflection point occurred in mid-April, approximately one month after the first wave of shelter-in-place orders, and was followed by a gradual and consistent recovery throughout the summer months. Because summer is usually associated with increased physical activity, we compared 2020 data to the same period (February &#8211; September) in 2019 (Figure 1).

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="222" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekday-Daily-Totals.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28467" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekday-Daily-Totals.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekday-Daily-Totals-300x130.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></figure>
 
<h6>Digging into the Data</h6>
Notably, prior to shelter in place orders, physical activity levels were similar between 2019 and 2020, followed by a dramatic divergence in mid-March. After mid-April of 2020, the increase in average daily step counts was steeper compared to the same period in 2019, suggesting that seasonal effects do not completely explain the observed trend. Finally, although 2020 average step counts recovered to pre-pandemic levels by the end of summer, they remained lower than 2019 step counts when seasonality was taken into account.
Because data from wearable devices (e.g. smartwatches) offer a <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/03/fitness-tracking-test/">more accurate measurement</a> of physical activity than smartphone-derived step counts, we restricted all subsequent analyses to watch data only. We first stratified our data by sex to examine potential disparities. In our <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/activity-changes-during-covid/">initial analysis</a>, we observed that men and women experienced similar drops in physical activity, although women consistently attained ~1000 fewer daily steps than men. This difference, well-documented by <a href="https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2010/10000/Pedometer_Measured_Physical_Activity_and_Health.4.aspx">previous studies</a>, persisted in the recovery data as well (Figure 2).

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="443" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Average-Weekday-totals-1024x443.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28468" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Average-Weekday-totals-1024x443.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Average-Weekday-totals-300x130.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Average-Weekday-totals-768x333.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Average-Weekday-totals-880x381.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Average-Weekday-totals-1180x511.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Average-Weekday-totals.png 1566w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
 
<h6>Different Age Groups</h6>
Although the effect of COVID-19 in our data did not vary by sex, different age groups exhibited distinct trajectories in both drop and recovery. Initially, the sharpest drop in physical activity was observed among 20 to 30-year-olds, whose step counts pre-pandemic exceeded those of other age groups. By the end of August, however, this group showed an impressive albeit incomplete recovery (Figure 3).
The only group where step counts remained depressed comprised individuals over 70 years of age, highlighting their vulnerability not only to COVID-19 infection but also to the potential negative consequences of prolonged physical inactivity.

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="444" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/weekday-totals-1024x444.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28469" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/weekday-totals-1024x444.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/weekday-totals-300x130.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/weekday-totals-768x333.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/weekday-totals-880x381.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/weekday-totals-1180x512.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/weekday-totals.png 1564w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
 
We observed that the difference in walking habits between participants from metropolitan vs. rural areas diminished as the pandemic unfolded (Figure 4a). Pre-shelter in place and consistently with <a href="https://jech.bmj.com/content/57/1/29">other reports</a>, urban residents walked on average 600 steps/day more than their rural counterparts. Since late March, however, the average difference between the two groups shrank to less than 100 steps/day.

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="223" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekday-Steps-Post-6-months.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28470" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekday-Steps-Post-6-months.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekday-Steps-Post-6-months-300x131.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></figure>
 
Although rural step counts returned to their pre-COVID-19 levels, a full recovery has so far eluded the urban residents — likely reflecting the lasting changes to workplace and school commutes rather than leisure time physical activity. This hypothesis is supported by data collected on weekends (Figure 4b): unlike in weekday data, step counts recorded on Saturdays and Sundays were consistently higher in metropolitan areas.

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="446" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekend-Steps-6-Months-After-1024x446.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28466" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekend-Steps-6-Months-After-1024x446.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekend-Steps-6-Months-After-300x131.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekend-Steps-6-Months-After-768x335.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekend-Steps-6-Months-After-880x384.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekend-Steps-6-Months-After-1180x514.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Weekend-Steps-6-Months-After.png 1562w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
 
<h6>The Power of 23andMe&#8217;s Research Model</h6>
Enabled by our powerful rapid data collection platform, our analyses tell a story of both resilience and vulnerability in real-time. The overall conclusion is hopeful: even amidst the pandemic-related disruptions, many people are finding ways to increase their daily movement. This finding is especially encouraging in light of the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/well/move/coronavirus-exercise-stress-mental-health-depression-mood-resilience.html"> recent studies</a> showing that exercise may be a successful strategy to boost mental health in these challenging times.
Nevertheless, our data also draw attention to groups that are not experiencing these benefits to the same extent: older individuals, rural residents, and women. As we continue to adapt to life with COVID-19, any initiative to promote exercise should consider not only health behaviors but also issues of access and equity to maximize the positive health impact of physical activity.
*23andMe’s COVID-19 study is made possible through the participation of more than a million of our customers who consented to answer survey questions for this research. But this study also involves the hard work of a core team of our health researchers, program/product managers, data scientists, engineers and geneticists. Among them are: Michelle Agee, Amanda Altman, Stella Aslibekyan, Adam Auton, Jess Bielenberg, Adrian Chubb, Daniella Coker, Raffaello d’Amore, Scott Dvorak, Alison Fitch, Scott Hadly, Pooja Jain, Andy Kill, Trung Le, John Matthews, Jey McCreight, Taylor Morrow, Sungmin Park, Jeff Pollard, Anjali Shastri, Janie Shelton, Teresa Filshtein Sonmez, Jason Tan, Lindsey Tran, Cat Weldon, Chelsea Ye, Yiwen Zheng

Stepping Back Up Amid COVID-19

This week 23andMe scientists <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.04.20188318v1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">published findings</a> from the first four months of our COVID-19 study using data from more than a million research participants that found both genetic and non-genetic associations for susceptibility and severity to COVID-19.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-28208 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16-300x300.jpg" alt="A image of the globe and the double helix to represent those who have opted into participate in research on COVID-19" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1080x1080-COVID-IG-Copy-16.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
The findings will be shared with researchers around the world as part of what has become an unprecedented effort among scientists looking for new treatments for the virus. Part of 23andMe’s motivation for this study was to leverage our unique research model to quickly find insights that could be shared with others working toward treatments.
Because the intent was to quickly make this data available, many of these findings have been shared in the months since the study began.
<h6>Genetic Associations with COVID-19</h6>
But the publication this week also includes data strengthening an association between severe respiratory complications and a specific variant in the gene cluster in chromosome 3. This region includes several different genes (SLC6A20, LZFTL1, CCR9, CXCR6, XCR1, and FYCO1). Some play a role in the immune response to infection in the lungs. The gene SLC6A20, may play a role in the expression of the ACE2 protein which in turn could lead to greater viral uptake.
Along with this genetic association, 23andMe’s researchers found strong evidence for the role of the ABO blood group for both the severity and susceptibility to COVID-19. Our findings, which were shared previously, underscore<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/blood-type-and-covid-19/"> the role of blood type in COVID-19</a> infections, specifically that blood type O might be protective against the virus. The significance of this association may be related to the role of blood clotting complications in cases of people with COVID-19.
<h6>Non-Genetic Associations for COVID-19</h6>
23andMe’s research also revealed many non-genetic associations that replicated other studies including the finding that<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/impact-disparities-of-covid-19/"> Black and Latino populations</a> have been hit much harder than white communities.
For Latinos, the higher rates of hospitalization were consistent with higher rates of infection, according to 23andMe’s data. But for Black research participants, the risk of hospitalization was disproportionately high and remained that way when adjusted for socioeconomic factors as well as age, sex, and for several underlying health conditions like type 2 diabetes or hypertension.
Our data showed that Black research participants were 83 percent more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared to European respondents after adjustment for age, sex, socioeconomic status, body mass index, and a pre-existing condition.
23andMe’s researchers also found other risk factors for hospitalization noting that men required hospitalization more often than women. The same for those who were older and poorer.
In addition, 23andMe found that certain underlying chronic health conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes significantly increased the risk for hospitalization for COVID-19. Being overweight increased the risk for hospitalization by about 34 percent over those with normal body mass index.
<h6>We’re All in This Together</h6>
This pandemic impacts all humanity, and as such it has fueled an unprecedented level of scientific collaboration across the globe. 23andMe and its team of scientists, researchers, and engineers chose to become part of this effort early on, engaging the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23andMe research</a> platform to quickly recruit research participants and study this novel disease.
In less than four months more than a million 23andMe customers consented to participate, of those more than 15,000 had tested positive for COVID-19, with 1,100 of them suffering symptoms that required hospitalizations. Through their participation, and during a highly compressed timeline, our researchers were able to make new findings, replicate others, and contribute to the larger effort by other researchers who are searching for treatments. (23andMe is still recruiting individuals who have been hospitalized for COVID-19. You can find out more <a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19-study/">here</a>.)
We are now sharing these findings through a full-set of de-identified summary statistics that will be made available to qualified investigators. Those investigators will have to enter into an agreement with 23andMe to protect participant confidentiality. Interested investigators should visit the following: <a href="https://research.23andme.com/covid19-dataset-access/">https://research.23andme.com/covid19-dataset-access/</a>
<hr />
*23andMe’s COVID-19 study is made possible through the participation of more than a million of our customers who consented to answer survey questions for this research. But this study also involves the hard work of a core team of our health researchers, program/product managers, data scientists, engineers, and geneticists. Among them are: Michelle Agee, Amanda Altman, Stella Aslibekyan, Adam Auton, Jess Bielenberg, Adrian Chubb, Daniella Coker, Raffaello d’Amore, Scott Dvorak, Alison Fitch, Scott Hadly, Pooja Gandhi, Andy Kill, Trung Le, John Matthews, Jennifer McCreight, Taylor Morrow, Sungmin Park, Jeff Pollard, Anjali Shastri, Janie Shelton, Teresa Filshtein Sonmez, Jason Tan, Lindsey Tran, Cat Weldon, Chelsea Ye, Yiwen Zheng

23andMe COVID-19 Study Findings Published

By Daniella Coker, MPH, Scientist at 23andMe*
23andMe’s research into COVID-19 reveals that amid the pandemic between April and June, adherence to social distancing measures waned, echoing findings from other researchers. But in July as COVID cases spiked, more people heeded public health recommendations about distancing.
After taking into consideration a range of factors, certain personality types are more (or less) likely to practice social distancing.
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• Highly extraverted people are less likely to practice social distancing.
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• People who are highly agreeable or open to experience are more likely to practice social distancing.
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• Adherence to social distancing decreased between April and June but has since begun to increase.
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• Older people were more likely than younger people to practice social distancing.
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These are just a couple of the dozens of new findings 23andMe scientists have discovered looking at data from more than 1,000,000 people who are participating in <a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19-study/">23andMe’s COVID-19 research study.</a> Since the study’s launch in April, 23andMe has released a range of findings from the data, including that <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/blood-type-and-covid-19/">O blood type appears</a> to be protective against susceptibility for COVID-19 and that <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/activity-changes-during-covid/">physical activity has decreased</a> since shelter-in-place orders began.
23andMe’s COVID-19 research study presented an opportunity to also understand social distancing behavior within our research participants &#8211; Who is social distancing? Where are people social distancing more or less? How has adherence changed over the course of this pandemic?
<h6>Geography and Social Distancing</h6>
Adherence differs greatly from state to state, but between April and June in most states, adherence to social distancing decreased. Adherence was generally lowest in Mountain states and Southern states, where the proportion of study participants who practiced social distancing decreased from 84-89 percent in April to as low as 78 percent June. Even in states on the West Coast and in the Northeast, where compliance with social distancing was among the highest in the country, compliance decreased from 91-93 percent in April to approximately 88 percent by June.
However, our data shows that between June and July, adherence to social distancing began to increase across the country, potentially in response to the resurgence of infections during this time.

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="288" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Map-social-distancing.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28394" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Map-social-distancing.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Map-social-distancing-300x169.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></figure>
 
<h6></h6>
<h6>Age and Social Distancing</h6>
Beyond geography, 23andMe data showed that older people, those over 50, were generally more likely than younger people to practice social distancing. In fact, for nearly every 10-year increment in age (e.g., 20-somethings, 30-somethings, etc.), there was an increase in the proportion of individuals who practiced social distancing.
It was also found that in almost all age groups, adherence to social distancing fell from April to June, only to jump back up in July. Yet, even in the youngest groups, the majority of people said they adhered to social distancing rules.

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="278" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/social-distancing-and-age.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28395" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/social-distancing-and-age.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/social-distancing-and-age-300x163.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></figure>
 
<h6>Personality and Social Distancing</h6>
Personality traits appear to play a role in adherence. Even after taking into account age, sex, essential worker status, relative zipcode density, and other factors, individuals who are gregarious, adventurous, prone to anger, and/or, friendly were less likely to adhere to social distancing. At the same time, those who were more liberal, artistic, sympathetic, and altruistic were more likely to socially distance. These findings are based on the responses of over 100,000 COVID-19 research participants who had also completed 23andMe survey questions that help assess character traits.
These and other traits can be grouped under one of the <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/big-5-personality-traits">“Big Five” personality traits</a> used in the field of psychology. 

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="338" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/The-big-five.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28396" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/The-big-five.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/The-big-five-300x198.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></figure>
 
The above figure is based on Psychology Today’s <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/big-5-personality-traits">“Big 5 Personality Traits”</a>
Another way to look at these findings is that highly extraverted people were less likely to socially distance, whereas highly open or agreeable people were more likely to adhere.&nbsp; 1,2 

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="312" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/personality-traits-less-likely.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28397" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/personality-traits-less-likely.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/personality-traits-less-likely-300x183.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></figure>
 
 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="286" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/personality-traits-for-social-distaning.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28398" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/personality-traits-for-social-distaning.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/personality-traits-for-social-distaning-300x168.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></figure>
 
<h6>What does personality have to do with it?</h6>
There are a couple of possible <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/personality-traits-explain-whether-you-follow-or-flout-coronavirus-mask-wearing-and-social-distancing-guidelines-11594822706">explanations</a> for these specific findings.
The mandates for social distancing have upended many aspects of our lives, including our ability to physically interact with family and friends. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/extroversion">Extraverts are typically highly sociable individuals who “recharge” from being with others</a>; their very nature is at odds with the demands of social distancing, and therefore they may be finding adherence to be particularly challenging. A study in <a href="https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&amp;pid=S2237-60892020005005201">Brazil</a> similarly found that during the first month of the pandemic, higher scores for extraversion were associated with less social distancing.
A couple facets of neuroticism, anger, and vulnerability, were also among those personality traits associated with less social distancing. Research has shown that highly neurotic people tend to use <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792076/">more emotion-focused</a>, rather than problem-focused, approaches for coping with stress. Therefore, perhaps individuals who are prone to anger or feelings of vulnerability are more likely to respond to the stress of the pandemic emotionally, such as by <a href="https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/why-some-people-wont-practice-social-distancing">tuning out or defying guidance</a>. <code> </code>
Highly agreeable people tend to focus on the <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/agreeableness">needs of others</a>. Much of the messaging around the pandemic has relied on a sense of community (e.g., “Stay Home. Save Lives”), so perhaps this tone of social responsibility has resonated more closely with this group of people. As for those who are highly open, it may be their tendency for being more receptive to new ideas and comfortable in unfamiliar circumstances that has contributed to an ability to adapt to this new experience of social distancing.
Other studies that have examined associations between personality and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic have produced similar results. <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/chgkn/">Blagov’s</a> study of U.S adults found that agreeableness and conscientiousness predicted endorsement of social distancing. In addition, a study of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340104486_Individual_differences_in_accepting_personal_restrictions_to_fight_the_COVID-19_pandemic_Results_from_a_Danish_adult_sample">Danish</a> participants showed that people who are highly emotional &#8211; a facet of openness &#8211; were more likely to accept personal restrictions to protect others from the virus.
Social distancing has remained one of society’s primary tools to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Analysis of 23andMe’s more than 1,000,000 COVID-19 study participants has shown that while a majority practice social distancing, differences persist when adherence is examined by age, time, geography, and even personality. Understanding these patterns of behavior can provide insight on how to address social distancing with different segments of the population.
*23andMe’s COVID-19 study is made possible through the participation of more than a million of our customers who consented to answer survey questions for this research. But this study also involves the hard work of a core team of our health researchers, program/product managers, data scientists, engineers and geneticists. Among them are: Michelle Agee, Amanda Altman, Stella Aslibekyan, Adam Auton, Jess Bielenberg, Adrian Chubb, Daniella Coker, Raffaello d’Amore, Scott Dvorak, Alison Fitch, Scott Hadly, Pooja Gandhi, Andy Kill, Trung Le, John Matthews, Jey McCreight, Taylor Morrow, Sungmin Park, Jeff Pollard, Anjali Shastri, Janie Shelton, Teresa Filshtein Sonmez, Jason Tan, Lindsey Tran, Cat Weldon, Chelsea Ye, Yiwen Zheng
**These analyses were limited to 18+-year-old participants in the United States.

Social Distancing during COVID-19 — Who, When, Where

By Janie F. Shelton, Ph.D., MPH, Senior Scientist at 23andMe*
Black people and Latinos are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, according to new data from scientists at 23andMe.
23andMe’s data shows that African Americans, who tested positive for COVID-19, were almost twice as likely as whites to be hospitalized. Latinos had a slightly higher risk for hospitalization compared to whites.  When adjusted for age, sex, income, and other underlying health conditions, Black people are still 80 percent more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 than whites.
<h6>Stark Differences</h6>
Even after adjusting for those factors, 23andMe scientists still found stark disparities in both susceptibility and severity from the virus.

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="317" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Hospitalizations.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-28387" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Hospitalizations.jpg 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Hospitalizations-300x186.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></figure>
 
In other words, race and ethnicity still stand out as a significant risk factor for infection with COVID-19 as well as for the most severe symptoms that require hospitalization. The preliminary data on people of other underrepresented communities also raises concerns, but without more research participants of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, in particular of Asian descent,  our scientists are unable to make robust statistical findings.
<h6>Replicating other Studies</h6>
23andMe’s data<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/05/us/coronavirus-latinos-african-americans-cdc-data.html"> replicates findings</a> from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing that not only are Black people and Latinos more likely to contract the virus, they are also much more likely to end up in the hospital across all age groups.

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="635" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/graphic-update-grouped-by-age-1024x635.png" alt="" class="wp-image-28391" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/graphic-update-grouped-by-age-1024x635.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/graphic-update-grouped-by-age-300x186.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/graphic-update-grouped-by-age-768x476.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/graphic-update-grouped-by-age-880x545.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/graphic-update-grouped-by-age-1180x731.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/graphic-update-grouped-by-age.png 1252w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
 
These findings add another stark reminder of a much larger issue — the glaring disparities in health care, health care access, and health outcomes within the United States for Black people, Latinos, and other under-represented racial and ethnic groups. Thus far, there is no data to indicate that there are genetic variants among these populations to explain these differences in outcomes.
<h6>23andMe&#8217;s COVID-19 Research Study</h6>
The preliminary findings are among dozens of new insights researchers have uncovered as part of<a href="https://you.23andme.com/covid19-study/"> 23andMe’s COVID-19 research study</a>. 23andMe scientists are drawing data from more than one million people participating in the study, including more than 20,000 who have been diagnosed with or tested positive for the virus, and more than 1,000 who have been hospitalized. It is among the largest genetic study of COVID-19 in the world.
Since the study’s launch in April, 23andMe has released a range of new insights about the virus, including that<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/blood-type-and-covid-19/"> O blood type appears</a> to be protective against susceptibility for COVID-19. The study also found genetic variants that appeared to be protective. It is worth noting that African American and Latinx populations are more likely to have Type O blood than Europeans, and despite that, infection risk and hospitalization risk are higher in those groups.

 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="317" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/covid-age-adjusted.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-28389" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/covid-age-adjusted.jpg 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/covid-age-adjusted-300x186.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></figure>
 
<h6>More COVID-Related Findings</h6>
Although the study is focused on genetic factors underlying susceptibility and severity, the researchers are also finding interesting non-genetic factors as well as other impacts from the pandemic. For example, 23andMe recently reported data on how<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/activity-changes-during-covid/"> physical activity has decreased</a> since shelter-in-place orders began. And our scientists have found how certain personality traits influence people’s adherence to social distancing recommendations.
Together, these data are helping scientists understand the many dimensions to why the virus affects people so differently. The hope is that this data may offer insights for combating the pandemic.
But data on racial and ethnic disparities from 23andMe scientists as well as other researchers sheds a light on racial disparities in the impact of COVID-19. This is also more impetus to the broader discussions around the need for more equity in health care. Recently scientists from the<a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2020/07/covid-19-and-black-communities"> National Academy of Sciences</a> held a workshop looking at what might be underlying the disproportionate impact the virus has had on Black communities, as well as the best approaches to remedy that.
One recent initiative, called the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/06/23/hhs-announces-partnership-morehouse-school-medicine-fight-covid-19-racial-ethnic-minority.html">National Infrastructure for Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 within Racial and Ethnic Minority Communities</a>, coordinated by the Morehouse School of Medicine, aims to improve communication around the condition among underrepresented communities as well as ensure access for those communities when a vaccine or other treatments become available.
*23andMe’s COVID-19 study is made possible through the participation of more than a million of our customers in the U.S. who consented to answer survey questions for this research. This study also involves the hard work of a core team of our health researchers, program/product managers, data scientists, engineers, and geneticists. Among them are: Michelle Agee, Amanda Altman, Stella Aslibekyan, Adam Auton, Jess Bielenberg, Adrian Chubb, Daniella Coker, Raffaello d’Amore, Scott Dvorak, Alison Fitch, Scott Hadly, Pooja Gandhi, Andy Kill, Trung Le, John Matthews, Jennifer McCreight, Taylor Morrow, Sungmin Park, Jeff Pollard, Anjali Shastri, Janie Shelton, Teresa Filshtein Sonmez, Jason Tan, Lindsey Tran, Cat Weldon, Chelsea Ye, Yiwen Zheng.

COVID-19 — Page 2