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- The CEO of upscale salad chain Sweetgreen seemingly blamed obesity for US COVID deaths on Wednesday.
- "78% of hospitalizations due to COVID are obese and overweight people," Jonathan Neman said on LinkedIn.
- As of September 1, 634,320 people in the US have died from COVID-19 according to the WHO.
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The CEO and cofounder of the nearly $2 billion upscale salad chain Sweetgreen seemingly blamed overweight people for the high death toll in the United States from the coronavirus pandemic.
"78% of hospitalizations due to COVID are Obese and Overweight people," Sweetgreen CEO and cofounder Jonathan Neman said in a LinkedIn post this week. "Is there an underlying problem that perhaps we have not given enough attention to? Is there another way to think about how we tackle 'healthcare' by addressing the root cause?" he said.
As of September 1, 634,320 people in the United States have died from COVID-19 according to the World Health Organization.
Obesity is among many medical conditions listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as especially at risk of getting "severely ill" from a COVID-19 infection, resulting in hospitalization and potentially death..
"COVID is here to stay for the foreseeable future," Neman said in the post. "We cannot run away from it and no vaccine nor mask will save us."
Though Neman noted that he is vaccinated and encourages others to do the same, his subsequent suggestions to curb the ongoing pandemic each focused on individual health over the broadly recommended solutions like masking and vaccinations.
"We have been quick to put in place mask and vaccine mandates but zero conversation on HEALTH MANDATES," he wrote. "All the while we have printed unlimited money to soften the blow the shutdowns have caused to our country. What if we focused on the ROOT CAUSE and used this pandemic as a catalyst for creating a healthier future??"
He also cited mask and vaccine mandates as "government overreach" while calling for new taxes on processed foods.
"We clearly have no problem with government overreach on how we live our lives all in the name of 'health,' however we are creating more problems than we are solving," he said.
Neman deleted the post on Wednesday afternoon after it was picked up by Vice, but not before people began commenting.
"This post is disgusting," one commenter wrote. "Yikes, this is incredibly fat-phobic," another person wrote. "Have you considered how our healthcare system systematically underserves people who are considered to be in those groups?"
Neman said the commenter made "some good points" and he didn't intend to be fat-phobic with his post. "We have work to do to make healthy food more accessible and affordable."
Sweetgreen salads start at $9.95 and cost as much as $14.95.
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