Are women more affected by Covid-19 or not? This question is answered by the Italian Ministry of Health and the Italian Higher Institute of Health: “According to the data of the Italian Integrated Surveillance, overall, the diagnoses of Covid-19 have mostly concerned women: about 53% of cases occurred in female subjects.
In the period from 17 to 30 August 2020, however, the diagnoses of Covid-19 concerned women to a lesser extent than men: about 56% of cases occurred in male subjects, about 44% in female subjects”. Although the evidence is still scarce, vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus from mother to baby cannot be excluded. To date it is considered a rare but possible event.
Finally, in Italy the cases of positivity among infants are various, presumably infected following contact with the positive mother during or after childbirth. These children, however, have not presented important symptoms and the condition does not raise particular concerns”.
Furthermore, it seems that women have “a lower risk of developing serious or lethal forms of Covid-19 than men. Some hypotheses have been put forward to explain this phenomenon, including the possible protective role of estrogen in women of childbearing age.
Estrogens, in fact, are able to increase the presence of ACE2 (Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2, Angiotensin Converting Enzyme), a receptor by which SARS-CoV-2 penetrates our cells, allowing this enzyme, even after infection, to perform its protective function, particularly in the lungs”.
