Young spark rise in cases
Younger Arizonans, who in general are less vaccinated than older residents, are fueling a slight uptick in COVID-19 infections, health officials say.
Younger Arizonans are slight uptick in COVID-19 public health officials say.
In Maricopa County, where about 62% of Arizona’s population lives, county fueling a infections, health officials say new coronavirus cases in residents ages 44 and younger are trending upward, possibly because this population is less vaccinated than older county residents.
Vaccine uptake so far is highest in older age groups and lowest in younger age groups, state data show.
Among Arizonans 65 and older, 81% have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. That drops to 61% for people 55 to 64 and about 48% for people 45 to 54. Just 42% of people 35 to 44 have received at least one dose, and about 30% of people 15 to 34.
The actions of some political lead
ers have sent the message that the pandemic is over or nothing much to worry about anymore.
Yet most Arizonans have not even gotten their first vaccine dose, and another surge is possible as has been seen in other states like Michigan.
Gov. Doug Ducey lifted remaining restrictions on businesses in late March, took away local mask mandate authority, and about two weeks ago rescinded an order that made masks mandatory at K-12 schools.
Now schools are making their own decisions, with some still requiring masks, but others, such as Mesa, the state’s largest school district, removing the requirement.
Maricopa County officials say an analysis of the county’s most recent day of full data showed that of 708 new COVID-19 cases, 70% were in people ages 44 and younger. By comparison, during the pandemic as a whole, people in that age group comprised 61% of Maricopa County’s new COVID-19 cases, officials said.
The upward trend in COVID-19 infections among younger Arizonans is small, but a signal that the pandemic is not over, county officials said in a May 3 newsletter.
“It’s good news that we are seeing a relatively small number of cases in older adults. This means the vaccine is working. However, the increase among populations who are less likely to be vaccinated tells us that preventive measures are still necessary countywide,” the newsletter says.
“Until enough people are vaccinated, COVID-19 can keep spreading, especially if people stop taking the precautions that we know reduce the risk of getting or spreading COVID-19.”
County public health officials on Tuesday did not immediately respond to a request for an interview about the increase.
Nationally, younger demographics have been driving recent COVID-19 cases as well, leading to new surges in some states. While younger people generally have better outcomes, that’s not always the case.
Preliminary COVID-19 hospitalization data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows people older than 65 are comprising a smaller percentage of COVID-19 hospitalizations than they did previously.
While older Americans made up 50% or more of COVID-19-related hospitalizations in December and January, CDC data from April shows the share of those 65 and older in recent weeks had dropped to 30% or lower of the hospitalizations.
Arizona’s largest health care system confirmed April 30 that it has been seeing a slight rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations, mainly driven by patients between the ages of 40 and 60.
“The increase in hospitalizations is mainly driven by 40-to-60 year age group and to lesser extent by 18-40 year age group,” Banner Health spokesperson Becky Armendariz wrote in an email.
Banner, which typically cares for about half of the COVID-19 patients hospitalized at any given time in Arizona, said it also has seen an increase in ventilator use by COVID-19 patients over the past week, driven by the 40-to-60 year age group.
Statewide, inpatient hospitalizations for COVID-19 as of Monday had eclipsed 600 patients in hospitals across Arizona for nine days in a row, according to data from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The last time hospitalizations were at more than 600 was March 31, which is still far below the Jan. 11 record of 5,082 inpatients statewide.
A variant of the new coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom is now the dominant strain in both Arizona and the U.S. It is more transmissible than the previous dominant strains in Arizona, and that’s showing in younger people, Dr. Joshua LaBaer, executive director of Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, said during an April 21 briefing.
“Because the older people have been vaccinated, they are at less risk of getting the variants. But there have been a number of reports in the literature of a variety of syndromes including immune response diseases and some mental health, let’s say, illnesses, confusion syndromes and so on, among younger people,” LaBaer said.
“And then when you look at people showing up at emergency rooms and such, you see younger people now showing up with it. … Because we’ve done a pretty good job of vaccinating the older population.”
Kids younger than 16 are not yet approved to get any of the COVID-19 vaccines, although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to give emergency use authorization soon.
“A lot of kids who get it just get mild illnesses, but just because of the sheer numbers, some kids are having bad infections and it is not always apparent what predicts who will have what,” LaBaer said. “But there are definitely more and more reports in the literature of kids getting infected and having severe infections.”
“Until enough people are vaccinated, COVID-19 can keep spreading, especially if people stop taking the precautions that we know reduce the risk of getting or spreading COVID-19.”
Maricopa County newsletter
Reach the reporter at Stephanie.Innes@gannett.com or at 602-444-8369. Follow her on Twitter @stephanieinnes
Reach the reporter at Alison.Steinbach@arizonarepublic.com or at 602444-4282.