Breakthrough infections on the rise in LA County; the young adults most infected with the coronavirus

© (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Even the Los Angeles Dodgers prom girl has to wear a mask. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

As the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread, groundbreaking infections of fully vaccinated people multiply in Los Angeles County, but vaccinated people generally remain well protected from hospitalizations and death.

In total, of 5.1 million LA County residents who are fully vaccinated, 0.53% tested positive, 0.014% were hospitalized, and 0.0013% – or 68 people – died.

“Most of these deaths have unfortunately occurred in critically ill people with co-morbidities and / or with weakened immune systems,” LA County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said in a recent briefing. .

The latest data “reflects the reality that vaccines do not offer 100% protection, and with these high rates of community transmission, people who are more fully vaccinated get post-vaccination infections,” Ferrer said. “However, this same information also makes it clear how much protection people still have. Most of us who are fully vaccinated… are not infected.”

By far, the age group most likely to be infected with the coronavirus in Los Angeles County by far is young adults – those between 18 and 49 years old. In early August, for every 100,000 young adults vaccinated, nearly 150 were infected each week.

The rate of coronavirus cases was much worse among unvaccinated people. For every 100,000 unvaccinated young adults, nearly 450 were infected each week.

This means that unvaccinated young adults are three times more likely to be infected with the coronavirus than their fully vaccinated counterparts.

People hospitalized, however, are much more likely to be older, unvaccinated adults. The hospitalization rate among unvaccinated adults aged 50 and over hit a new high in the summer: for every 100,000 unvaccinated elderly people, nearly 60 were hospitalized with COVID-19 infection.

But for every 100,000 fully vaccinated seniors, only five were in hospital with COVID-19 infection.

This means that unvaccinated elderly people are 12 times more likely to be hospitalized than their vaccinated counterparts. Unvaccinated young adults are 25 times more likely to be hospitalized than those who are fully vaccinated in this age group.

“If you are not vaccinated you have a lot of risk – a lot of risk of being in the hospital and a lot of risk [of] die, ”Ferrer said. “And that includes unvaccinated young people as well as the elderly, who are always more at risk with this virus to have a bad result. “

The people most at risk of dying from COVID-19 in LA County are unvaccinated residents 50 years of age and older. Out of 100,000 people in this age group, there were 5.9 deaths per week in early August, a death rate nearly 17 times higher than that of vaccinated residents of the same age.

Unvaccinated young adults, those aged 18 to 49, are still fairly unlikely to die from COVID-19. But the death rate for this cohort – 0.9 deaths per 100,000 young adults – is still more than 22 times that of their vaccinated counterparts.

© (Los Angeles County Department of Public Health)
(Los Angeles County Department of Public Health)

Overall, people who are not fully vaccinated but require hospitalization tend to be younger – the median age is 50, and many are between 35 and 63. This group is more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit or to require sedation and the insertion of a breathing tube into their trachea than those who are vaccinated.

In contrast, among those who are fully vaccinated and require hospitalization, patients tend to be older; their median age is 65, many of whom are between 54 and 78 years old.

This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.