New CDC data shows that nearly 40 percent of patients sick enough to be hospitalized were aged 20 to 54. But the risk of dying was significantly higher in older people as per March 16, the report was released on Wednesday.
We now know that the most aged people are more prone to death from COVID-19. However US CDC data shows something which is different and of huge concern. American adults of all ages are affected by the novel coronavirus according to the report on nearly 2,500 of the first recorded cases in the US.
The older patients –as other countries– had more risk of dying and also getting hospitalized. Out of the 508 hospitalized, 38 percent belonged to the age group of 20 and 54. Half of the 121 patients in the ICU were under 65, said the CDC report
Stephen S Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health said "It's not just going to be the elderly. There will be people age 20 and up. They do have to be careful, even if they think that they're young and healthy." reported the NYTimes
White House briefing mentions
A White House briefing on Wednesday by Dr Deborah Birx, physician and State Department official leading the administration's coronavirus task force cited reports of COVID-19 affected young adults in Italy and France who needed Intensive Care and insisted the millenials to maintain social distancing.
"You have the potential then to spread it to someone who does have a condition that none of us knew about, and cause them to have a disastrous outcome," Dr Birx said, addressing youngsters. The CDC report further says that 20 percent of the hospitalized patients and 12 percent of the patients in ICU were between the ages of 20 and 44.
The new data shows the first significant wave of cases in the US that does not include people who came to the US from Wuhan, China, among others. About 4,226 of such cases were reported between February 12 and March 16, the CDC study says.
US 6th in the infected list
However, the report had no information if patients of any age had underlying risks like chronic illness or a compromised immune system making it impossible to find out if the younger patients hospitalized were more susceptible to serious infection than others in their age group. US stands in sixth position with more than 9,500 infections as of Thursday. The report shows how young people could be affected. This can lead to elders in their families getting infected.
However, those under 19, account for less than one percent of hospitalizations, with none in the ICU. Of the 44 deaths accounted in the report, there were nine deaths among adults age 20 to 64. The authors wrote, "these preliminary data also demonstrate that severe illness leading to hospitalization, including I.C.U. admission and death, can occur in adults of any age with Covid-19."
