The age of patients hospitalized from COVID-19 is now skewing younger. Genesis Health System reports higher hospitalizations in patients under 49. Scott County Medical Director Dr. Louis Katz says that’s because older patients were prioritized in vaccine rollouts, so less of them are being hospitalized.
“While the proportion of younger patients in the hospital is higher, the absolute number of younger patients in the hospital is pretty stable, so the shift to younger hospitalization is more relative than real.”
But Katz says Scott County’s test positivity rate is still triple what it was last month.
“We believe that’s related to pandemic fatigue, bad behavior, lack of masking, and perhaps related to the dominant UK strain, that we know is about 50% more transmissible than the original strains. So, yeah, we’re not in a good place.”
Katz urges those vaccinated and unvaccinated to continue wearing masks, washing their hands, and keeping their distance.
