Young residents lead recent surge

People in their 20s have been most likely to test positive lately

Connecticut residents under age 40 have spurred the state’s recent COVID-19 surge, state data shows, accounting for a growing share of the state’s cases as older residents are increasingly protected by vaccination.

After the total number of COVID-19 cases in Connecticut decreased across all age groups in January and February, it has stayed low among residents 60 and older but increased again among younger groups.

Recently, residents in their 20s have been the most likely group to test positive for COVID-19, followed by those in their teens and those in their 30s. At UConn, several dormitories were placed under quarantine Friday after a wave of on-campus cases.

“Those at risk are the younger people now,” Dr. Steven Wolf, chair of the emergency department at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, said Wednesday. “They’re exhibiting risky behavior, getting together in large parties, and we’re seeing the effects of spring break.”

According to data released

Thursday, about 61% of positive tests from March 14-27 came from residents under age 40, compared to about 52% in late January. Residents 60 and older, meanwhile, represented 11% of cases from March 14-27, compared to 19% in late January.

This trend is to be expected, officials say, due to high rates of vaccination among Connecticut’s oldest residents. As of Thursday, 81% of those 65 or older had received at least one vaccine dose, as compared to about 36% of the population as a whole. The state’s vaccine eligibility rollout has been largely age-based, with younger people having just become eligible this week.

That means as Connecticut has eased pandemic-related restrictions, and as highly contagious variants have begun to spread, young people have been the ones getting sick. The timing of spring break in mid-March likely didn’t help the cause.

But the trend toward younger people getting sick likely owes to more than just irresponsible behavior. The B117 variant, which has become increasingly prevalent in Connecticut over recent weeks, is believed to infect children and young people more easily than the original.

The result has been not only more young people catching the coronavirus but also more winding up with serious illness. Yale New Haven Hospital, for example, has seen a decrease in older patients but an uptick in younger ones.

“We don’t have as many people in that [older] age group that have been hospitalized with COVID,” Yale New Haven CEO Marna Borgstrom said Tuesday. “What we are seeing is patients in their 20s and 30s and 40s.”

Fortunately, the vaccination on many of Connecticut’s most vulnerable residents seems to have curtailed COVID-19 deaths in the state, which have remained low among younger groups, while also declining among older residents. Whereas the state reported as many as 300 COVID-19 deaths over one seven-day period in January, it has reported 39 over the most recent week.

“If you look at the population that we’re most concerned with, at risk for mortality, that’s gone down significantly,” said Keith Grant, senior system director for infection prevention at Hartford HealthCare,

which has also seen a shift toward younger COVID-19 patients.

Officials say these recent trends simply underscore the importance of vaccination, which seems to have spared older Connecticut residents from the rising infection rates currently occurring among younger groups. As of Thursday, all residents 16 and older are eligible to sign up for vaccine appointments, which they can do through the state’s VAMS system, through pharmacies or through health systems including Hartford HealthCare, Yale New Haven Health, Trinity Health of New England and UConn Health.

In the meantime, officials ask people of all ages to continue taking precautions and treating COVID19 as an active threat.

“People are fatigued, they’re frustrated, they want to see some light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, and I think people are relaxing just a little bit,” Grant said. “So I think this is our opportunity to remind them the virus is still here.”