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During a media briefing on Wednesday, the World Health Organization’s director general delivered a message for young people: “You are not invincible” and are vulnerable to the novel coronavirus.
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“This virus could put you in the hospital for weeks or even kill you,” he said.
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While original reports about the virus emphasized how older people and those with certain health conditions are most at risk, it’s become clear that younger people can get seriously ill or die too.
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While most warnings about the novel coronavirus have focused on vulnerable populations, including older adults and those with underlying conditions, the World Health Organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, directed a message on Wednesday to a different group: young people.
“Although older people are the hardest hit, younger people are not spared,” he said, adding that there are a “significant” number of cases in people under 50.
“Today I have a message for young people: You are not invincible. This virus cold put you in the hospital for weeks or even kill you,” Tedros said. “Even if you don’t get sick, the choices you make about where you go can be the difference between life and death for someone else.”
He added that he’s grateful for the young people who are “spreading the word and not the virus.”
In a press briefing on Friday, New York governor Andrew Cuomo delivered a similar message, telling young people who think they can’t get or transmit the virus they are flat-out wrong.
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supports this points. It found that in the US, nearly 30% of cases have been among 20- to 44-year-olds.
The report also found that the same age group accounted for 20% of those hospitalized with the disease, as well as 12% of those admitted to intensive care.
In France, more than 50% of coronavirus cases are under 60 years old.
An increasing number of personal accounts have illustrated how devastating COVID-19 can be, even for healthy young people. One 44-year-old marathoner, for example, said his illness is so severe he needs oxygen to breathe and can barely eat lunch.
Americans ages 65 and older are still suffering the highest rates of death and serious illness, but younger adults, children, and even infants can can develop serious illness or die from the disease.
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