Cases of COVID-19 are “increasingly rapidly among young adults in the U.S.,” according to a research letter from Harvard, published at the online site of the JAMA medical journal.
The study included 3,222 young adults between the ages of 18 and 34.
The investigation found that the young adults “experienced substantial rates of adverse outcomes: 21% required intensive care, 10% required mechanical ventilation, and 2.7% died.”
Patients with morbid obesity, hypertension, and diabetes were at “greater risks of adverse events.” The young adults with more than one of the conditions, the researchers found, “faced risks comparable with those observed in middle-aged adults without them.” Black and Hispanic patients made up more than half of the patients who required hospitalization.
A separate Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report says an investigation of symptomatic outpatients from 11 U.S. health facilities found that people who tested positive for COVID-19 were twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than those who tested negative.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this week his government will launch an ambitious program to test at least half a million people daily for COVID-19, with the results back within minutes. Johnson said he hoped the “moonshot” program -- a reference to the 1960s-era American manned lunar landing program -- will be in place before the end of the year, and would return Britain to some sort of normality and grant more freedom to those who test negative for the coronavirus.
Johnson coupled the announcement of the mass testing initiative with a new order limiting the number of people taking part in most social gatherings to six, from the current 30.
The new limit would take effect next week, as Britain is experiencing a surge of nearly 3,000 new COVID-19 cases daily in recent weeks, the highest daily figures since May.
Britain’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whittey says the new “rule of six” restrictions are likely to remain in place for several months.
Johns Hopkins University reports there are more than 28 million cases of COVID-19 cases worldwide with more than 900,000 deaths.
The U.S. continues to lead the world in the infection numbers with almost 6.4 million cases and more than 191,000 deaths.