According to experts, younger Americans are accounting for a higher proportion of new coronavirus infections as cases of the virus increase in the South and West.
The United States recorded another record peak in cases, counting more than 45,000 new cases on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to more than 2.4 million. Florida, Texas, California and Arizona accounted for almost half of the new cases.
Florida alone reported nearly 9,000 new cases, while Texas and California each exceeded 5,000 new cases.
Most of the new cases are younger patients. While patients 50 and older accounted for nearly 70 percent of cases in early April, about 57 percent of recent patients are between the ages of 18 and 49, according to the CDC.
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Arizona reported that nearly 60 percent of its 66,000 confirmed cases have been under the age of 45.
Phoenix resident Jimmy Flores, 30, spent a night drinking with friends at a nightclub. A week later, he felt sick and was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“I am a young, active and healthy person with no preconditions,” said Flores. “I didn’t take it seriously for myself. I was not practicing the patterns of social distancing. I didn’t wear a mask. I thought he was invincible. “
Patrick Ptak, spokesman for Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, said the state is making efforts to target youth and encourage mitigation techniques, such as wearing masks.
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Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have taken steps to close bars or ban alcohol use to discourage people from going out, as both states noted a tendency for younger people to contract the virus. Texas also reduced the restaurant’s capacity to 50 percent as ICU beds continue to fill.
Health officials have made it clear that people in older age groups are more likely to experience severe symptoms of the virus. But although young people are less likely to develop symptoms or die, they can still transfer the virus to others.
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“If infected, it will infect another person,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday, speaking specifically with people under the age of 40, during the first White House press conference on the coronavirus since late April. “A risk to you is not only isolated for you. You are innocently and inadvertently propagating the process of a pandemic.”
Experts expected cases to increase as the blocks ended, largely due to behavioral changes. Epidemiologists also theorize that increased testing is likely responsible for some of the data shift to younger people, and doctors evaluate more mild and asymptomatic patients across the country than in the early phase of the pandemic, the report said. Journal.
Health experts point out that despite the increased number of cases in younger patients, the number of deaths may not see a similar change: younger people are more likely to have better infection outcomes. The average age of infected people in Arizona decreased from 48 in March to 39 in June, according to a state data analysis conducted by Dr. Gerald of the University of Arizona. The average age of Covid-19 deaths increased from 62 to 69.
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“There is a bit of a false narrative that because you are young, you are fine if you get infected,” Dr. McDeavitt told the Journal. “We see people in their 20s and 30s in our intensive care units out of breath because they have Covid-19.”
