COVID Hospitalizations for 30-39 Year Olds Hits Record High

The number of adults ages 30-39 in the United States who are hospitalized with coronavirus has hit a new record, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The rate in early August reached 2.5 people per 100,000 as opposed to the previous peak of 2 people per 100,000 in early January. New infections throughout the country have hit more than 123,000 per day according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, as the Delta variant rapidly spreads.

“It means Delta is really bad,” said Dr. James Lawler, the codirector of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

The variant may be causing more severe infection in infected people, and is more likely to infect vaccinated people, who may not become sick themselves, but can pass on the virus to others.

Though cases are rising throughout the country, the lower the vaccination rate of the area, the higher the hospitalization rate.

In Texas, where 46% of the eligible population is vaccinated, hospitals are rapidly nearing capacity and are delaying elective procedures. In Florida, nursing homes are limiting visitors as cases rise, and some hospitals are operating at 120% capacity, with 43% of intensive care beds filled with coronavirus patients.

Admission rates of adults in their 30s have reached a little over eleven hundred, up from a little over 900 the week before. Experts say the delta variant is not the only factor behind the rise of cases among that age group; people in their 30s, the majority of whom are in the workforce and have active social lives, and are more likely to be around more people and in more places, increasing their chances of exposure.

“It loves social mobility,” said Dr. James Fiorica, chief medical officer of Sarasota Memorial Health Care System in Florida. “An unvaccinated 30-year-old can be a perfect carrier.”

In his hospital, a third of all coronavirus patients ages 30-39 arrived since June 2021.

___

smarcus@hamodia.com