‘You’re not immune.’ As states reopen, COVID-19 cases surge among the young, reports say

Nina Cecere, 24, has watched her friends reclaim their social lives from behind a computer screen, although she’d rather be with them in person, the Star Tribune reported.

But Cecere, a teacher, continues to practice social distancing by meeting friends outside and staying 6-feet apart, because although some have forgotten, she knows the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t budged.

“It’s so concerning,” she told the Tribune. “It’s not a lesser threat than it was two months ago.”

As states across the nation continue to reopen and people gather to socialize, a trend of more young people getting COVID-19 is emerging health officials and researchers say, several outlets reported.

Some state officials have used contact tracing to determine if the rise in coronavirus infections among people in their 20s and 30s is indeed tied to the reopening of bars and restaurants, according to numerous reports.

FLORIDA

In Florida, the number of young people becoming infected with coronavirus is on the rise, WPEC reported. Data from the Florida Department of Health shows that people under 18 are testing positive for the virus almost twice as much as the rest of the population, according to ABC News.

Officials with the agency noticed the number of cases has been rapidly increasing in recent weeks compared to earlier on in the pandemic, WKMG reported. Donna Walsh, the health officer for the Florida Department of Health, noted that the “majority” of cases are in young people — 114 new cases in the past week have been reported in people within their 20s, according to WKMG.

Contact tracing showed many of the patients went to bars, restaurants or pool parties, where other cases have been linked, WKMG reported.

“Some of the bars have definitely had reports of increased cases, of what we call clusters of cases, and if you look at the heat map that the county provides...you’ll see that the Oviedo area is what we call a hot spot,” Walsh told WKMG. “This is where we’re seeing a good many of the cases reported, and it could be due, I mean we could be hypothetical here, it could be due to the facts that we have more young people in this area.”

TEXAS

Young people also account for a good portion of the new cases reported in Texas as well, the Texas Tribune reported.

“There are certain counties where a majority of the people who are tested positive in that county are under the age of 30, and this typically results from people going to bars,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference, according to the Tribune.

Abbott joins Texas public health officials in attributing the spike in cases to reopenings and higher rates of activities, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

“Younger folks: You’re not immune to this,” Ron Nirenberg, Mayor of San Antonio, said during a briefing, according to the Express-News.

WEST VIRGINIA

Health officials in West Virginia noted that because young people are less likely to have severe symptoms and more likely to have no symptoms at all, they could be spreading it around the community without knowing as they engage in more social gatherings, according to WDTV.

“While that age group has not suffered so much from illness from COVID-19 or death from COVID-19, they’re more mild cases or asymptomatic cases. So that makes it more of a concern,” Dr. Mark Povroznik, vice president of quality at United Hospital Center, told WDTV.

The health department in Harrison County is working to trace how many cases could be linked to social gatherings where a majority of the people involved are part of a younger demographic, WDTV reported.

“They really need to take a look at protecting themselves, their families and their loved ones,” Chad Bundy, the Harrison County Health Department administrator, told WDTV. “That is a hard thing to get them to look at. But I think it’s so very important, that they have to look beyond themselves and to their families and their grandparents.”

WISCONSIN

The public health officer in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin announced more than half of the 50 new cases in the area over the past week have been reported in 20 to 29 year olds, WLUK reported.

“If you’re going to be hanging out with your friends that’s fine, but please make sure that you physical distance between them. Please make sure that they’re healthy, you’re keeping your distance and please do not share your drinks with each other,” Kim Mueller, the county’s public health officer, told WLUK. “I ask you to please consider others and ask yourself, who do you live with? Where do you work? Who else are you in contact with that maybe you would be putting that person at risk? The risk you’re putting on someone else could mean their life.”

In Winnebago County, Wisconsin, people aged 20 to 29 account for about 50% of new coronavirus cases, according to Spectrum News 1.

“While (young people) may not become tremendously ill from COVID themselves, they really have the ability to transmit it to someone else and that can have a multiplying effect within the community,” Doug Gieryn, head of the Winnebago County Health Department, told Spectrum 1.

OVER SEAS

A new study from Japan showed that young people are potentially fueling the spread of the virus around their communities, even if they’re asymptomatic, according to ABC. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study in the U.S., which tracked clusters of five or more cases that had common exposure sites, ABC reported.

A cluster of about 30 people, the largest of the non-healthcare related clusters, was traced to a concert, the CDC said. The “probable primary cases,” or patients who are believed to have been the primary spreader in a cluster, were most frequently people between the ages of 20 and 29, according to the CDC.

About 41% of probable primary cases did not yet have symptoms when they spread the virus to others, or they were asymptomatic, the CDC said.

“We noted many COVID-19 clusters were associated with heavy breathing in close proximity, such as singing at karaoke parties, cheering at clubs, having conversations in bars, and excising in gymnasiums,” the study says. “Among the probably primary COVID-19 cases we identified ... half (11/22) were 20-39 years of age, which is younger than the age distribution of all COVID-19 cases in Japan.”