Their unrestricted social interactions are pushing the number of infections back up in the Mid-West and other places….
As millennials mingled in bars and restaurants over the summer, and students returned to college campuses, coronavirus infections surged among young adults.
From June through August, the incidence of Covid-19 was highest among adults aged 20 to 29 years old, according to research published on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Young adults accounted for more than 20 percent of all confirmed cases.
But the infections didn’t stop with them, the researchers found: Young adults also seeded waves of new infections among the middle-aged, and then in older Americans.
The new data show that outbreaks linked to parties, bars, dormitories and other crowded venues are hazardous not just to the twenty-somethings who are present, but to more vulnerable Americans with whom they are likely to come into contact.
College campuses have become a particular threat. According to a database maintained by The New York Times, there were more than 88,000 coronavirus infections reported on nearly 1,200 campuses as of early September.
At a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned against sending home students from colleges experiencing outbreaks.
Speaking about ill students, Dr. Fauci said colleges “should be able to accommodate the students in a facility, maybe a separate dorm or a separate floor so they don’t spread among the student body,” he said. “But do not send them home to their community because of the likelihood of them bringing infection in the community.”…
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The incidence of Covid-19 cases was highest among those in their 20s, but the spike in cases in this age group was quickly followed by increases in infections among people 60 and older, the researchers found….