​ Being young won’t save you from virus ​

Despite early reassurances that young people weren’t likely at risk of getting seriously ill or dying due to COVID-19, a new report on virus cases in the United States has found that young adults are not “immune” to the dangers of the disease.

The study, conducted by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was based on 2,500 of the first recorded cases in America and found that adults of all ages are being seriously sickened by the coronavirus.

While, as in other countries, the oldest patients had the greatest likelihood of dying and of being hospitalised if they became infected, 38 per cent of the cases known to be hospitalised were notably younger – between the ages of 20 and 54. And nearly half of the 121 patients admitted to intensive care units were adults under the age of 65.

The results have contradicted younger adults’ claims that they’re “immune” to COVID-19.

RELATED: Follow the latest coronavirus updates 

“Younger people may feel more confident about their ability to withstand a virus like this,” head of respiratory medicine at the University of British Columbia Dr Christopher Carlsten told The New York Times.

But, he said, “if that many younger people are being hospitalised, that means that there are a lot of young people in the community that are walking around with that infection”.

“I think everyone should be paying attention to this,” professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Stephen S. Morse told the publication.

“It’s not just going to be the elderly. There will be people age 20 and up. They do have to be careful, even if they think that they’re young and healthy.”

The report served to underscore an appeal earlier this week by American physician and State Department official Dr Deborah Birx, who is a leader of the White House’s coronavirus task force.

Both Dr Birx and President Donald Trump implored the millennial generation at a White House briefing on Wednesday to stop socialising in groups and to take care to protect themselves and others.

RELATED: How to protect the elderly, who are most at risk of death 
 

“You have the potential to spread to someone who does have a condition that none of us knew about, and cause them to have a disastrous outcome,” Dr Birx said.

She said that there were concerning reports coming out of France and Italy – now the country that’s experienced the deadliest virus outbreak – about some young people with coronavirus getting “seriously ill” in intensive units.

President Donald Trump – who only weeks ago was comparing the virus, which has infected more than 11,000 Americans, to the seasonal flu – has also shifted his messaging, telling young people that they’re not “invincible”.

“We don’t want (young people) gathering, and I see they do gather, including on beaches, including in restaurants,” he said.

“They’re feeling invincible … but they don’t realise that they can be carrying lots of bad things home to grandmother and grandfather and even their parents. So we want them to heed the advice. We mean the advice. I think it’s getting through.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also reprimanded youngsters going to the beach on spring break earlier this week as “reckless”.

RELATED: What social gatherings are now banned? 
 

“These pictures of people on beaches, these videos of young people saying, ‘This is my spring break, so I’m out to party’ – this is so unintelligent and reckless,” the Governor said. “I can’t even begin to express it.”

Even though the proportion of younger people having severe outcomes is small, that can still scale up to a significant number because of the size of the COVID-19 pandemic, said physician and health reporter Norman Swan on the ABC’s Coronacast podcast.

He said it was a worrying situation that’s played out in China and elsewhere.

“Intensive care units across China and across Italy are full of people who are young. And it’s the young who are dying with no obvious risk factors,” Dr Swan said.

“When this takes off, it’s young people who hit your intensive care units and you’re making decisions between a 40-year-old and a 60-year-old … terrible ethical conditions.

“And when you look at the 30 and 40 year olds who are dying, they don’t have heart disease, they don’t have diabetes, they don’t have obvious risk factors.”

Dr Swan reiterated that while the death rate was higher among older people, the overall numbers of young people in intensive care or dying had been “a surprise for many people”.

He emphasised that the risk is still low to individual Australians, but these cases