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Opinion Why Are So Many More Men Dying from Coronavirus? The disproportionate toll this virus is taking on males isn’t an anomaly. When it comes to survival, men are the weaker sex. By Dr. Moalem is a scientist, physician, and the author of the forthcoming “The Better Half: On the Genetic Superiority of Women.” April 2, 2020 Image A man with a protective face mask in New York’s Times Square, last week. Credit... Peter Foley/EPA, via Shutterstock Share on Facebook

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As coronavirus continues its spread across borders, oceans and continents, there is a perplexing piece of data that has so far evaded a proper explanation: It’s still early, but in almost every country that we have numbers for, more men than women are dying from the virus.

Most attempts to explain this discrepancy have focused primarily on behavior, some of which are almost certainly valid. Higher rates of tobacco consumption, a reluctance to seek proper and timely medical care and even lower rates of hand-washing absolutely do play a role in who will be hit hardest.

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But what is being overlooked in these explanations is that the disproportionate toll coronavirus is taking on men isn’t an anomaly. Rather, it may be a timely and high-profile demonstration of what up until recently has been an underappreciated scientific fact: When it comes to survival, men are the weaker sex. This isn’t just the case during once-in-a-lifetime pandemics. This innate biological advantage is apparent at every age and stage of human life: Baby girls are consistently more likely to make it to their first birthday; 80 percent of all centenarians today are women; an incredible 95 percent of those who reach the formidable age of 110 years old are women. While on average genetic males have more muscle mass and greater height, overall size, and physical strength, when it comes to surviving the physical hardships encountered from birth to late-in-life, genetic females almost always outlast genetic males.