Did COVID Flip? More Young People Reporting Severe COVID Symptoms
Article written by Dr. Daliah.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has not gone away as hoped and is now ravaging young adult communities.
What once was considered a “65 and older” disease, more and more young adults are reporting symptoms of severe COVID.
These include shortness of breath, fever, chest pain, body aches, cough, headache and fatigue.
Additional symptoms include nasal congestion, sore throat, loss of taste and smell, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and rash.
As businesses struggle to remain open during the pandemic due to social distancing guidelines, employee call-outs due to illness add to the strain of staffing these businesses, thus heightening risk of closure.
In Arizona, Governor Doug Ducey ordered the closure of bars and nightclubs for 30 days as their state has seen the highest uptick in cases in the 20-44 year old age group.
In Nevada, the Department of Health and Human Services show younger individual age groups to be more affected than those over 60 years old.
In the last 7 days, those in the 20-44 year age group saw the most prominent spikes.
Why are younger adults more affected?
- Firstly, many older individuals might have been exposed and infected during the first wave such that the proportions have changed now that more younger people are testing.
2. More testing is being required by employers, hence non-retired workers, who may comprise the younger population, are coming forward to get tested.
3. The virus might have mutated. Some believe it weakened, but in a sense it might have strengthened to overcome a younger, more healthy immune system.
4. Younger individuals who engaged in vaping, tobacco or marijuana use might have become a more susceptible population for a new strain of COVID.
5. Younger adults might have been more social during reopenings or taken part in mass gatherings, protests and demonstrations thereby exposing themselves more than the older, stay at home, population.
The moral: This virus is unpredictable, may mutate, and will infect various population groups leaving younger individuals just as vulnerable as older ones. Don’t let your guard down, wash your hands, keep safe distances away from others, keep up good nutrition and sleep, and seek medical care and/or testing if you feel ill.
