Young people like me are at risk
Step back to protect yourselves and everyone
On one of my lonely strolls during our county’s shelter-in-place order, I passed by a densely packed line of people, waiting for ice cream. Upon closer inspection, from 6 feet away, of course, I noticed these were all young people, under 35, like myself.
Later, when I told a friend that I was concerned they might not understand the importance of physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, my friend seemed unconcerned. We’re young, he told me, so even if we get the virus, we’ll be OK. We just need to avoid older people.
As a hospital-based internal medicine physician caring for very sick COVID-19 patients and, at 32, a fellow young person, I must say: This is wrong.
Everyone should care about stopping the spread of COVID-19. My message to millennials, Generation X, Y and Z’ers is: What you do matters — not just to older and medically vulnerable people, but also to anyone who could potentially catch the new coronavirus. And while it might be hard to believe, young people are not immune to the more severe and even deadly forms of the disease.
But what if you were? What if you had only mild symptoms or even no symptoms at all, like an estimated 80% of all people who contract COVID-19? Why not gather in a line for ice cream?
During a pandemic, what can be harmful is often not in plain sight. We are still learning about the coronavirus, and there is no cure for it yet. It spreads unknowingly and unintentionally, having a domino effect on the health of others, the livelihoods of others and the wellness of our entire community.
This includes young Americans. According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 38% of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in the United States are ages 20-54.
The numbers are in line with what I have seen in my hospital. Only about a handful of our COVID-19-positive patients have required hospitalization, but almost half of them were younger than 35. Some did well, and some did not. Patients under 35 may be admitted with shortness of breath, requiring a small amount of oxygen — only by evening to be placed on a mechanical ventilator to help them breathe.
To the young people doing their part through physical distancing — you can still be social! — I applaud you for striving to protect others and yourselves. To those who imagine they are immune or unlikely to harm others, step back now for your own safety, and to bring back the days of worry-free ice cream.
Dr. Thomas Ken Lew is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and an attending physician at Stanford Health Care-ValleyCare.
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