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No surprise there. Visceral fat has has long been associated with a higher risk of respiratory diseases. But it's good to see this confirmed for COVID-19.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20090306/belly-fat-bad-for-y...

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Your link is about 'belly fat', which is not visceral fat, but rather subcutaneous (under the surface of the skin, as opposed to internally around the organs).

Intuitively, it would seem that visceral (internal) fat might affect lung function more, but as the article states, the mechanism of impairment is not clear.

Seems like it's both actually, the more pronounced of which is visceral which seems to make up most of a beer belly.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/womens-health/i...

Your point probably stands, but COVID is not a respiratory disease. It's a vascular disease: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7556303/

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