Young people in the United States are hit hard by the Delta variant

The iteration of COVID-19 that rocked the US healthcare system around this time last year – D614G, the wild type – burned down in nursing homes and primarily targeted people over the age of 65 years. Now public health officials are dealing with the Delta variant, B.1.617.2, which is burning in areas of the country where many people are unvaccinated and appears to target young Americans, those in their 50s. and less, more than its predecessor, according to Inci Yildirim, MD, PhD, Yale Medicine pediatric infectious disease specialist and vaccinologist.

“As older age groups get vaccinated, those who are younger and unvaccinated will be at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 with any variant,” says Yildirim. “But Delta appears to have a bigger impact on the younger age groups than the previous variants.”

Sharon Ward-Fore, MS, MT (ASCP), CIC, member of Infection control today^®of the Editorial Advisory Board, said in an email to TIC^® that “it’s high time for those who are reluctant to get vaccinated to step in and do their part, especially now that the Delta variant has found them. These deaths among a younger population are unnecessary and once again strain healthcare workers and supplies. It is a public health crisis and EVERYBODY must do their part!

Medical experts warn that younger, asymptomatic people are not immune from a long COVID, and the effects of a long COVID may not be counted for decades.

Nick Papacostas, MD, president of the Alaska section of the American College of Emergency Physicians, told the Daily News from Anchorage, that he sees in his emergency room people “sicker and younger than those we saw last year, requiring either hospitalization or admission to intensive care.” They are really more intensive to treat because they are sicker.

Younger and sicker patients are also seen in other emergencies in other parts of the country, according to published reports. The Delta variant appears to spread as easily as chickenpox, according to the CDC. Like a Washington post Last week’s headline – quoting the CDC – read: “The war has changed.

As stated in Contagion^®, TIC^®sister publication of, medical experts are still learning about the different effects of COVID-19 on different populations. Investigators from King’s College London have found that the first symptoms of a COVID-19 infection differ between age groups, as well as between men and women.

“As part of our study, we were able to identify that the profile of symptoms due to COVID-19 differs from group to group,” said Marc Modat, senior lecturer at Kings College. “This suggests that the criteria for encouraging people to get tested should be personalized using information from individuals such as age. Alternatively, a larger set of symptoms could be considered, so that different manifestations of the disease in different groups are taken into account. “

Symptoms for early detection included loss of smell, chest pain, persistent cough, abdominal pain, blisters on the feet, eye pain, and unusual muscle pain.

Loss of smell is more acute in people over 60 than in young people. Men were more likely to report shortness of breath, fatigue, chills, and chills, while women were more likely to report loss of smell, chest pain, and persistent cough.

Claire Steves, lead author of the study, said, “It’s important for people to know that early symptoms are varied and may seem different to each member of a family or household. Testing guidelines could be updated to allow for earlier case management, especially in the face of new, highly transmissible variants. This could include the use of widely available lateral flow tests for people with any of these secondary symptoms. “

About 40,000 people are currently hospitalized in the United States with COVID-19, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. It’s pretty much the same as this time last year. However, thanks to vaccines and mitigation efforts, the United States will not see the horrific death rates seen in previous COVID-19 outbreaks. According to Johns Hopkins, 71 people in the United States died yesterday from COVID-19.