Corona and Young people
this article was put together by Dr. Manasi Bapat, a brilliant doctor who does a lot of charitable work…
you can get in touch with her at manasi.91088@gmail.com
The important stats on adolescents and just-turned-adults:
- In Spain, out of 221 cases for people 10 to 19, 15 of them have been hospitalized, a 7 percent rate; none have ended up in intensive care. One person in this age range has died, a 0.4 percent fatality rate.
- Italy and South Korea have reported no fatalities for this group; China reports that 0.2 percent of cases for these young people end in death.
- In the US, there had been no ICU admittances or deaths reported among people under 20 as of late last week; only a small percentage (1.6 percent) had been hospitalized.
With the younger generations, (same as the older generations), underlying medical conditions add to a person’s vulnerability. But the absence of health problems does not mean the absence of risk: CNN reported Sunday on a 12-year-old girl in Atlanta with Covid-19 who has no known health conditions and who is nevertheless on a ventilator.
Bottom line: Older kids and teenagers may be more resilient than their younger peers in some ways (lower hospitalization and ICU rates in Spain, the only country we have data to separate the 0-9 and 10-19 cohorts), but there is still a small risk of serious complications or death.
Young adults (20 to 29 years old)
The important stats on young adults:
- In Spain, out of 1,285 cases for people 20 to 29 (a much bigger sample size than we have for children), 183 of them have been hospitalized, a 14 percent rate; eight have ended up in intensive care, a 0.6 percent rate, and four people in this age range have died, a 0.3 percent fatality rate.
- Italy and South Korea have reported no fatalities for this group; China reports that 0.2 percent of cases for these young people end in death.
- The CDC covers a huge 20-44 age range in its data, but here’s what we know about that entire group: 14.3 percent hospitalized, 2 percent in the ICU, and 0.1 percent fatality rate.
Bottom line: We are seeing a higher hospitalization rate among young adults compared to the teens directly behind them in age, and comparatively more of them wind up in the ICU. Fatality rates are still low, but deaths do happen.
Bottom line: We are seeing a higher hospitalization rate among young adults compared to the teens directly behind them in age, and comparatively more of them wind up in the ICU. Fatality rates are still low, but deaths do happen.
Adults up to middle age (30 to 49 years old)
The important stats on this working-age population:
- In Spain, out of 5,127 cases from this cohort, 1,028 people have been hospitalized, a 20 percent rate; 55 went to the ICU, a 1.1 percent rate; and three people ages 30 to 49 have died, a 0.2 percent fatality rate.
- Italy (0.3 percent death rate), China (0.2 percent), and South Korea (0.1 percent) have reported deaths in this age range.
- As mentioned above, the CDC covers one huge 20-44 age range in its report, but here’s what we know about that group: 14.3 percent hospitalized, 2 percent in the ICU, and 0.1 percent fatality rate.
- For people 45 to 54, the CDC reports 21.2 percent have been hospitalized, 5.4 percent were put in the ICU, and 0.5 percent have died.