Article from The Hill:
CDC Analysis Shows Coronavirus poses Serious Risk for Younger People
Early data analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that younger Americans are at substantial risk of experiencing serious medical problems from the coronavirus sweeping the globe.
That data runs counter to some of the early messaging from public health officials in other parts of the world.
A new CDC analysis of more than 2,400 cases of COVID-19 that have occurred in the United States in the last month shows that at least 1 in 7 and perhaps as many as 1 in 5 people between the ages of 20 and 44 who contract the virus require hospitalization, a level exponentially higher than the hospitalization rates for influenza.
Between 2 percent and 4 percent of people that young are admitted to intensive care units. The fatality rate is low, only 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent, but is about two times higher than a bad flu season.
Health outcomes are much worse among those who are older and those who have underlying health conditions. The early estimates show that a fifth to a third of those between the ages of 45 and 65 who contract the disease are hospitalized. Among those over 75 years old, hospitalization estimates range from 30 percent to more than 70 percent.
Among the oldest cohort, those over the age of 85, somewhere between 10 percent and a quarter of all patients die. The data show adults over the age of 65 account for 80 percent of the deaths with the coronavirus.
But younger Americans are contracting the virus at the same rates as those who are older. The initial round of data actually found more people between the ages of 20 and 44 who landed in the hospital than those over the age of 75 who wound up in treatment, even though mortality rates were lower for the younger set.
"Lots of young people are getting hospitalized, a lot more than weโre messaging, and, yes, maybe you donโt die, but living with a damaged lung or damaged organ is not a good outcome," said Prabhjot Singh, a health systems expert at Mount Sinai Health System and the Icahn School of Medicine.
Deborah Birx, one of the Trump administration's top experts on its coronavirus task force, said Wednesday that early data from France and Italy, both dealing with thousands of coronavirus cases, seemed to underscore the threat to younger people.
"There are concerning reports coming out of France and Italy about some young people getting seriously ill and very seriously ill in the ICUs," Birx said at a White House briefing
She did not offer further details.
The data, Singh said, shows the importance of government messaging to millennials and members of Generation Z that the virus poses a substantial risk no matter someone's age. And even if someone does not show serious symptoms, they can still spread the disease to friends, neighbors or relatives who will.
"Weโre talking to young people about doing their part and being good millennials because they could be asymptomatic spreaders," Singh said. "Thatโs true, but itโs also true that some high number of them will also get sick enough to be hospitalized, and many of them may have lasting consequences."
