Study ties blood type to COVID-19 risk; O may help, A hurt

NATIONAL — A genetic analysis of COVID-19 patients suggests that blood type might influence whether someone develops severe disease. Scientists who compared the genes of thousands of patients in Europe found that those who had Type A blood were more likely to have severe disease while those with Type O were less likely. Wednesday’s report in the New England Journal of Medicine does not prove a blood type connection, but it does confirm a previous report from China of such a link. Other experts say more study is needed in different groups of patients to see if the findings hold up.