Summary: Young people "relax their vigilance" or intensify the spread of the epidemic
Visitors： Date：2020-08-13
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 11th. Summary: Young people "relax their vigilance" or increase the spread of the epidemic
Xinhua News Agency reporter
Recently, the new crown epidemic has rebounded in many parts of the world. A new feature of the epidemic development is the increase in the proportion of young people infected, and it has even become the group with the highest infection rate in some countries and regions.
The World Health Organization believes that one of the reasons for the surge in the number of cases in some countries is that young people have "relaxed their vigilance." The agency and experts from many countries warned that young people are also susceptible to the new crown virus and must strictly follow epidemic prevention measures like other age groups to avoid behaviors that increase the spread of the virus.
Statistics from Johns Hopkins University in the United States show that the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States has exceeded 5 million, and it is still growing at a rate of tens of thousands of cases per day. Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, told Xinhua News Agency that one of the new features of the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the United States is the increase in the number of infections among young people, especially young people with underlying diseases who are seriously ill. The stakes are high.
USA Today’s analysis of epidemic statistics in 17 states in the United States found that since March this year, the average age of new coronavirus infections in these states has dropped significantly. As of early July, people under 40 accounted for the majority of all confirmed patients. most.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference in late July that the latest statistics show that the proportion of people aged 21 to 30 years old in New York State has continued to increase in the past two weeks, while other age groups in the state The population's new crown infection rate remained flat or declined.
Barbara Feller, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, California, recently told local media that from June to late July, the new crown infection rate for residents aged 30 to 49 in Los Angeles County has tripled, while the rate of new crown infections between 18 and 29. The infection rate among year-old residents has tripled.
According to media reports, in the week ending July 22, Canada had an average of 485 new infections every day, of which 63% were under 39 years old. The report quoted a statement from Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Tan Yongshi, saying: “Recent national surveillance data show that young people aged 20 to 39 have the highest infection rate among all age groups in Canada.”
As of the end of July, among all confirmed cases in Greece, people aged 18 to 39 years old accounted for 31.6%, and those aged 40 to 46 years old accounted for 42.2%. In addition, new patients in Japan, Australia, Germany, France, Sweden and other countries are also showing a younger trend.
Epidemiological surveys have shown that people of all ages are generally susceptible to the new coronavirus. The elderly and people with underlying diseases are more likely to develop severe illnesses after infection, and have been the key protection targets since the outbreak. However, why are young people currently at a high risk of new crown infections?
Experts believe that this is related to factors such as young people keen to participate in various gatherings, like going to bars and other places, and easy to ignore social distance restrictions. In the face of the prolonged situation of the epidemic, under the influence of factors such as stronger social needs among young people, and relatively higher proportions of mild illness and asymptomatic after infection, many people have become "tired" against epidemic prevention regulations such as maintaining social distance. This is to control the virus. Communication brings new challenges.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a recent press conference that there is evidence that “the number of cases in some countries has soared because young people have relaxed their vigilance during the summer in the northern hemisphere.” He warned that "young people are not invincible", "young people may also be infected, young people may die, young people may also transmit the virus to others", so young people must take the same precautions as others. To protect yourself and others.
Peter Colignon, a professor at the Australian National University School of Medicine, told the media that young people are the people most affected by the “blockade” economically and socially. They are also the people who are relatively less affected by the disease after infection. It is the people in their 20s and 30s who change their behavior.
The sharp increase in the number of young people infected may eventually spread the virus to all social groups. The Canadian "Global News" website quoted Edward McBein, a professor at the University of Guelph in Canada, as saying: "If we start to see an increase in the youth population (infection), there is no doubt that it (the virus) will eventually spread from parents to grandparents. And may have a serious impact on the elderly population."
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and an important member of the White House Coronavirus Response Task Force, recently warned young people not to be a weak link in epidemic prevention, "You must be responsible to yourself and to society. When you are infected, you are not in a vacuum, and you will exacerbate the pandemic.” (Notewriter: Zhang Ying; Participating reporters: Tan Jingjing, Ou Sa)
