Sunday, June 21, 2020

The Emerging Covid Threat - Young People



Medical authorities in the US are reporting on a shift in Covid-19 infections. It's summer time and, of course, that's party time.  The predictable result is an upswing in Covid infections in younger people and, just as predictably, they're bringing it home to their sibs, their parents and their grandparents.

The shifts in demographics have been recorded in parts of Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas and other states -- many of which were some of the first to reopen. 
In Mississippi, where one health officer called adherence to social distancing over the past weeks "overwhelmingly disappointing," officials attributed clusters of new cases to fraternity rush parties.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said last week that people under 30 made up a majority of new coronavirus cases in several counties. He said that increase in young infected people could be related to Memorial Day parties, visits to bars or other gatherings. 
And in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that the median age was 37 for newly diagnosed coronavirus cases over the last week. In the state, 62% of new cases for the week of June 7 are under 45 years old, he said.
Gov. DeSantis said Saturday cases are "shifting in a radical direction" toward populations in their 20s and 30s. 
Those younger groups testing positive are mostly asymptomatic and don't require clinical attention, the governor said.
"It's a little bit of a disturbing trend, and what frightens me is not only that they are younger, the potential of them infecting other people, particularly parents and grandparents," Chief Medical Officer at Grady Health System Dr. Robert Jansen told the news station.
What next - inter-generational distancing?



5 comments:

Trailblazer said...


Don't have to look far to see such happenings.

https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/mounties-break-up-party-of-about-200-on-field-near-crofton-no-arrests-made-1.24157054

TB

The Disaffected Lib said...


Pretty disturbing, TB. And summer is just getting underway.

Anonymous said...

Covid-19 acquisition with no masks, now a Mark of Distinction: Trump at Tulsa among more young maskless dopes to Make America Ill Again. I really like this cartoon:

https://dissidentvoice.org/2020/06/humor-from-the-potus/

BM

Toby said...

Young people are not all idiots.

"Did a successful prank inflate attendance expectations for President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Okla.?"

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/21/style/tiktok-trump-rally-tulsa.html

If this is real it's quite clever.

The Disaffected Lib said...


Admission to the rally was on a first come basis. Even if the TikTok gambit worked, it doesn't account for Trump's inability to draw even 19,000 into that arena. It was enough to set Trump to boasting that more than a million were planning to show up when, even by the campaign's own numbers, he got no more than 12,000. The local fire marshal put it at half that. Regardless, there was no way to prevent the cameras from panning to the empty bleachers, especially in the upper gallery. Trump's humiliation was complete. You know who was watching that fiasco most closely? Congressional Republicans who face re-election in November. Those feckless bastards can see the water rising in the bilges.