The last time Miriam Castro saw her son Herman, he was in the hospital. A mask covered his tear-stained face as he cried over a FaceTime call.
He kept saying, ‘I love you, Ma, I love you, Ma. Take care of yourself. This is not a game, ” Mrs Castro recalled. “He was screaming and crying.”
Herman J. Castro, a 32-year-old manager of a McDonald’s in Central Florida, died two days later.
He is among the more than 100 adults ages 25 to 44 who died last month from Covid-19 in Florida.
During the entire pandemic, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed that the state’s coronavirus crisis was largely confined to the very old. He has repeatedly noted that Florida has seen more coronavirus deaths in people in their 90s than in all people under 65. But data checked by The New York Times shows that is changing: Deaths were in July greater for residents under 65 than for those 90.
In addition, more Floridians in the 25-44 age group died in July than died in the previous four months of the pandemic combined, according to a review of data from the Florida Department of Health. More than 200 have died in all.
Although they still make up a relatively small number of the more than 8,000 total coronavirus deaths in the state, the number of younger adults who died from the disease has further doubled, underscoring a bitter mathematical reality: As more and more young people people test positive for the coronavirus, more of them will die.
Tali Elfassy, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Miami, said that although the death toll is lower for younger people, there has recently been a major shift in the age distribution of those infected. – from middle-aged and older persons, to younger adults.
“Even though the majority of people who die from Covid are older people, the fact that we have this demographic shift to younger people being infected is giving us an increase in deaths among younger people,” he said. se.
Nationally, the proportion of all deaths occurring in younger age groups remains small – just 38 deaths from coronavirus out of every 1,000 in July were attributed to younger people, but that is up from 22 per 1,000 in May.
By July, about 3,800 people in the United States in the age group died of coronavirus, according to figures published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That would make the coronavirus one of the leading causes of death for this age group, roughly comparable to the number of younger people who were killed over the same period in recent years.
And these figures include only deaths officially attributed to the virus. The overall death toll in the US is much higher than normal this year, suggesting that the toll of the virus is even greater than the official numbers show. More than 96,000 people aged 25-44 have died so far this year, compared to an average of 78,000 at this point in the previous five years.
Health officials have worried that young people have been too reckless in resuming social activities at parties and bars, and the number of infections among younger people has gone up. However, the young people who die are not necessarily the ones who got sick at a party.
Among the boys who recently succumbed to coronavirus in Florida were a 26-year-old convenience store clerk and a 42-year-old restaurant chef. At least three of the people who died worked in housing facilities that provided for the sick and disabled; one of them was 41 and two were 31. One 35-year-old woman worked in the front room of a hospital.
Records also show the people who died from the virus in Florida among the boys were disproportionately black. Among people aged 25 to 44, African Americans make up 18 percent of Florida’s population, but 44 percent have died. Black Floridians over 65 die with twice the rate of white population, but among younger adults the death toll is nearly three times as high.
More than a thousand Latinos in Florida have also died from the virus, although their death toll for most age groups is comparable to the death toll for non-Hispanic whites.
Many of the younger victims had diabetes as if they were obese, and highlighted the risks that people with health problems face, regardless of their age.
Robert Ruiz, of Sebring, Fla., Worked at a center for people with traumatic brain injury. He became ill from the virus of one of the patients.
“He was only 31,” said his sister, Chenique Mills. ‘That’s why this is so unbelievable. He does not have to be away. This is crazy. ”
Mr. Ruiz was overweight but had no underlying medical conditions, Ms. Mills. His Facebook account is full of selfies taken in the gym, where he tried to slim down, she said. A born-again Christian, he was a rap artist who enjoyed performing at church functions.
He died July 12 in his bedroom, two days after the onset of symptoms. The coronavirus test administered every two weeks by his workplace returned positive two days later. He left a toddler behind.
‘He blew it off. He did not think it was that serious, “said Ms. Mills. “This very ‘you are young, it will not affect you’ is annoying.”
Mr DeSantis said last month that the median time of new coronavirus cases had reached a low of 33, down from the 50s and 60s in March and April. Records show that when tens of thousands of young people started testing positive shortly after the state reopened, the average age began to decline as young people infected the older people around them.
The median age is now 42.
At the height of the crisis, the United States saw a point where 400 young people died every week. The most detailed federal data on coronavirus deaths lay several weeks behind state and local case reports, and do not reflect the current rise in deaths. However, the figures show that nationally the toll is 4,000.
What Happened in Florida played out earlier in the Northeast Polder. Although much attention was paid to tragedies at nursing homes and assisted living facilities, nearly 700 young people died from the coronavirus in New York City alone. In New Jersey, 370 people in the 25 to 44 age group died.
The difference in Florida is that the increase in deaths among young people is now occurring.
“We are seeing more deaths among younger adults,” said Drs. Russell Vega, the chief medical researcher who oversees the counties of Sarasota, Manatee and Desoto.
Considering that young people account for more than half of newly reported infections, some are of the opinion that the overall risk to the young is negative.
Still, younger people are encouraged to exercise caution. “This is not to be taken lightly,” said Chighaf Bakour, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida. “These are young people – they should not die at this age.”
Ms Bakour pointed out that tracking deaths tells only part of the story, because coronavirus infections can result in poor outcomes – such as chronic breathing and other long-term health complications – without resulting in death.
Cindy Prince, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Florida, said the public would expect more deaths among young Americans.
“We have had this idea in people’s heads that it’s OK because young people do not get sick from this virus and young people certainly do not die from it,” Ms Prins said. ‘That’s not true. Young people get sick. Young people are dying. ”
Several Florida-based epidemiologists have said that coronavirus death among young people in the state could help expose long-standing social and health inequalities between black and white people. African Americans, they said, were more likely to have co-morbidities, such as diabetes or obesity, even at a young age, which could make them more vulnerable to the virus and put them at a higher risk of death.
Infections can be transmitted among ethnic minorities and economically inferior people because they do not have the luxury of social distance in their homes, which are often tight quarters, they said. Many of them also work essential jobs that are already putting them at risk, and have to use public transportation to get to personal work.
“You have this double impact of minorities who are more likely to contract Covid and then more likely to die because of the chronic conditions,” Ms Elfassy said.
Imelda Bernardo believed that her son, Alexander G. Bacani Bernardo, would recover from the coronavirus. After all, he was only 22, and did not suffer from underlying diseases. He weighed about 300 pounds, but he was tall and muscular, she said.
‘Even though he’s pretty big, he’s good. He is 22, he is good, he was fine, “said Mrs Bernardo, 49.
Mother and son, immigrants from the Philippines, both worked in a nursing home in Jacksonville – Mrs. Bernardo as a diet cook and he as a diet assistant. While at home with his family sick, Mr Bernardo is thought to have infected his father, Alvin, 49, a smoker with diabetes and hypertension, according to state health records.
The son died on July 17th. His father, two days later.
