COVID-19: 40% of new serious cases are under 60 - here’s why

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/covid-19-40-percent-of-new-serious-cases-are-under-60-heres-why-658917 

There is a very disturbing increase in serious cases of COVID-19 among young people, according to a report released Sunday by the Coronavirus Knowledge and Information Center.

“There is a clear decrease in serious illness among those ages 60 and older,” the report said. “There is an increase in the number of patients in serious condition among younger groups, which last week constituted about 40% of new serious cases.”

According to Health Ministry data, almost 75% of people diagnosed over the weekend were under 40 years old, while only around 7% over 60.

On Sunday morning, 1,008 people were considered in serious condition, a slight increase from the day before, when 973 people were in serious condition.

Of the serious cases, 38% were under the age of 60. Last week, only around 34% of cases were younger people. At the peak of the third wave, around January 20, it was only 26%.

This constitutes a 53% increase in the number of serious cases under the age of 60 in the last month.

The cause, according to Prof. Cyrille Cohen, head of the immunotherapy laboratory at Bar-Ilan University, is two-fold. On the one hand, the more the older population is protected by the vaccine, it is inherent that the younger, less protected population will contract the virus and therefore be the relatively dominant population in the hospitals.