Adults 20 to 49 are the biggest spreaders of COVID-19 in the United States: study

Adults between the ages of 20 and 49 are the biggest spreaders of COVID-19 in the United States, according to British researchers who say targeting this age group for vaccination could speed up the reopening of schools.

A team from Imperial College London used cell phone data from more than 10 million people to calculate that 65 of 100 infections were still from people aged 20 to 49 in the United States.

The study found that people in this age group accounted for about 72% of cases after schools reopened in October. Less than 5% were from children and less than 10% from adolescents.

Adults aged 35 to 49 accounted for 41% of new cases through mid-August, compared with 35% for adults aged 20 to 34, according to the peer-reviewed study published in Science.

“We are finding that adults between the ages of 20 and 49 are a major driver of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States and are the only age groups disproportionately contributing to the spread, compared to the size of their population, ”said Dr Melodie Monod of Imperial College.

“Although children and adolescents have contributed more to the spread of COVID-19 since the school closure warrants were lifted in fall 2020, we see that this dynamic has not changed much since the reopening of the school. ‘school,’ she added.

Dr Oliver Ratmann from the university said: “We think this study is important because we demonstrate that adults between the ages of 20 and 49 are the only age groups who have consistently experienced the spread of COVID-19 in the states. United, despite great variations in scale and timing of local epidemics.

“So at least where highly transmissible variants have not become established, additional interventions targeting the 20-49 age group could contain the resurgence of epidemics and prevent deaths,” he added.

Meanwhile, a new study suggests that anti-coronavirus antibodies last for at least six months after infection for the majority of people who have contracted the virus.

UK Biobank research found that 99% of participants who had tested positive for a previous infection retained antibodies for three months after being infected, while 88% did so for the full six months of the study. , according to Sky News.

“This important study found that the vast majority of people retain detectable antibodies for at least six months after infection with the coronavirus,” said Professor Naomi Allen, chief scientist at UK Biobank.

“While we can’t be sure how this relates to immunity, the results suggest that people can be protected from further infection for at least six months after natural infection,” Allen said.

“Further follow-up will allow us to determine how long this protection is likely to last,” she added.