Millennials may face ‘disproportional’ risk for coronavirus

Washington: A White House health official has issued a warning that millennials may face a bigger threat to contracting coronavirus than had been previously reported.

Since the onset of COVID-19, it’s been reported that older adults and people with serious chronic health issues were the ones most likely to get severely ill from the virus.

But there have been increasing reports of the virus seriously affecting people in their 20s and 30s, which has led White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx to warn millennials of their “disproportional” risk and to let them know they need to take coronavirus very seriously.

“There are concerning reports coming out of France and Italy about some young people getting seriously ill, and very seriously ill, in the ICU,” Dr. Birx said during Wednesday’s White House press briefing, reported CNN.

She added, “It may have been that the millennial generation, our largest generation, our future generation, that will carry us through for the next multiple decades — there may be a disproportionate 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.”

Birx urged millennials to refrain from gathering in large groups despite previously believing they were not susceptible to getting ill from the virus.

And whether or not young people actually fall ill, they can still potentially infect more vulnerable populations.

“You have the potential then to spread it to someone that does have a condition that none of us knew about and causes them to have a disastrous outcome,” she said.

Birx’s statements come after many care-free spring breakers were seen partying and hitting beaches as if there wasn’t a global pandemic spreading from coast-to-coast.

In response, many celebrities, like Taylor Swift and Kevin Bacon, have urged young people and everyone in general to practice social distancing in order to try and curtail the spread of coronavirus.

Image courtesy of AP

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