Peter Katzmarzyk, J. Michael Salbaum, & Steven Heymsfield (2020) consider the role of obesity and other chronic health problems in increasing the risk of severe COVID‐19 complications. Recent work from the UK indicates that even modest levels of excess weight are associated with greater risk of hospitalization due to COVID‐19 (Hamer et al., 2020). While the mechanisms responsible for these interactions have not yet been determined, it is clear that this dynamic between chronic health problems and SARS‐CoV‐2 infection is further exacerbating long‐standing social and ethnic health disparities.