ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The White House warned millennials that there are reports of severe COVID-19 coronavirus infections in younger people.
“There are concerning reports coming out of France and Italy about some young people getting seriously ill and getting very seriously ill in the ICUs,” said Dr. Debbie Birx, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Birx says the data is preliminary but concerning. She said it’s possible that the elderly and those with underlying health issues listened to warnings and the data reflects that as the virus is reported more frequently among millennial groups.
“There may be disproportional number of infections among that group and so even if it’s a rare occurrence it may be seen more frequently in that group and be evident now. So, we’re looking at that information very carefully,” she said.
The warning came as large groups of young people have crowded beaches and bars despite restrictions otherwise.
Birx asked millennials to continue social distancing to protect themselves and their friends.
You have the “potential then to spread it to someone who does have a condition that none of us knew about and cause them to have a disastrous outcome,” Birx said.
The severity of COVID-19 ranges from asymptotic, meaning no symptoms, to severe and critical which can require hospitalization. We’re told in most the symptoms are mild to moderate.
10Investigates’ Courtney Robinson asked what defines mild or moderate.
Mild is essentially flu-like symptoms: fatigue, muscle aches, fever, cough, runny nose with an upper respiratory tract infection.
Moderate includes those symptoms with pneumonia, frequent fever and possible wheezing.
The definitions come from a study published in the journal Pediatrics. The study is the largest to date looking at COVID-19 in children.
Researchers analyzed data from more than 2,100 children in China. They say while most will have mild to moderate symptoms, a small percentage did become sick. Those children were younger than age five.
They concluded that while generally cases of COVID-19 in children were less severe than adults, young children, babies to preschool age, were vulnerable to infection.
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