Scrolling through Instagram lately can leave you feeling helpless after seeing people still going out, having house parties, and not taking the preventative measures necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Many people are under the impression that they’re safe since the virus seems to only be affecting the elderly. However, a recent analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studied cases from February 12th to March 16th and determines that 38% of the hospitalized coronavirus patients were younger than 55.
Around the world, the findings are the same. In France, half of the patients treated in intensive care units in Paris were younger than 65. In the Netherlands, half of the ICU patients were younger than 50.
Deborah Birx, the response coordinator of the U.S. coronavirus task force spoke at a White House news conference on Wednesday saying, “young people getting seriously island very seriously ill in the ICUs.”
President Trump chimed in saying, “We don’t want them [young people] gathering, and I see they do gather, including on beaches and in restaurants, young people. They don’t realize, and they’re feeling invincible.”
Clement Chow, a genetics researcher at the University of Utah has been sharing his experience on Twitter.
Chow is currently “beating COVID19” and tweeted, “Important point: we really don’t know much about this virus. I’m young and not high risk, yet I am in the ICU with a very severe case.”
At the end of the day, “everybody has risk. Even in young people, there is a percentage that has serious infection,” says Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, the director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
The best thing we can do is stay at home and self-isolate no matter how healthy or young you are.
