RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Although they are not included in the high-risk group, nor do they head the statistics on the number of coronavirus deaths, people under the age of 60 are the most infected with the disease in Brazil, which has increased the number of hospitalizations among the younger population and helped to overburden the health system.
The Ministry of Health does not detail cases by age in the daily assessments of Covid-19, but according to surveys by local health secretariats, Brazilian states in emergency situations record a higher percentage of patients infected and hospitalized under the age of 60 than global epicenters of the pandemic, such as the United States, Spain, and Italy.
The numbers refute the theory – preached even by President Jair Bolsonaro – that the disease does not have such an impact among the younger population, which in serves the argument advocating vertical isolation, which would keep at home only the elderly and people with previous conditions.
The age group with the most Covid-19 infections (40 percent) in São Paulo, the country’s record-holder for cases (11,043), is among those between 20 and 39 years of age (4,420). The number rises to 77 percent in the case of people under 60 who, according to the State Health Secretariat, accounted for nearly half (49 percent) of hospitalizations for severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by the novel coronavirus by late last week, although they accounted for only 21 percent of deaths.
Governments do not publish data showing how many of those youths, who became sick but did not die, had pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. Last Tuesday in Rio, the youngest victim in the state, 17-year-old Kamilly Ribeiro, died without any history of illness.
But the percentage of young patients in Brazil exceeds that of countries like the United States, which leads the world ranking of the pandemic, where a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention published on March 20th showed that 26 percent of ICU hospitalizations for coronavirus up to that point were in the range between 20 and 54 years of age.
In Spain and Italy, the most affected countries in Europe, the rate of those under 60 is 44.7 percent and 43.9 percent, respectively, and in the case of Spaniards, 14.5 percent are in the 20 to 39 age range (less than half compared to São Paulo). However, there is a considerable difference in the proportion of elderly people in European countries.
In both Spain and Italy, the 60+ age group makes up more than 25 percent of the population. In Brazil, the elderly represent only 14 percent of the 210 million population. Although the risk of death is higher for the over 60 age group (73 percent of deaths in the country), the youth group is already the one requiring the most care in the health system in several states.
Among the 807 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Bahia, the average age of those infected is 39 years. The most affected age group (29 percent) is between 30 and 39 years old, followed by those between 50 and 59 years old, suggesting that “the risk of getting sick has become greater among young adults,” according to the local health department.
In Ceará, 60 percent of the infected individuals are between 20 and 49 years old. The group with the highest proportion of hospitalizations for acute respiratory syndrome due to Covid-19 is between 50 and 59 years old (among men) and between 40 and 49 years old (among women), with 59 percent of hospitalizations involving patients under 60 years of age.
“We have ample evidence that the disease affects young people and can be fatal for this age group. Everyone must be on alert during the epidemic,” says André Longo, Pernambuco’s secretary of health, which reported the death of a 15-year-old teenager and a seven-month-old baby by coronavirus in less than a week. The average age of those infected in the state is 37 years.
In Recife, almost 80 percent of ICU beds are already occupied. In a press conference, infectologist Jailson Correia, secretary of health of the Pernambuco capital city, called attention to the role of the youngest in the overburden of hospitals.
“The disease tends to be more severe from the age of 60, which does not mean that young people are immune. The virus is leading to severe conditions among the youngest portion of the population. Staying home means protecting yourself and your family,” said Correia, in line with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline, which stresses groups of young adults as vectors for the transmission of the coronavirus and, most importantly, potential patients due to worsening complications of the disease.
In São Paulo, the state government is considering fines for residents who fail to comply with the quarantine guidelines. The isolation rate in São Paulo is still below the ideal target for preventing the collapse of hospitals, which, according to the government, is at least 70 percent. Despite the city’s emergency decree, younger people continue to fill avenues and bike lanes for physical activities.
In Rio de Janeiro, the mortality rate for the disease among people under 60 (30 percent) is twice as high as in São Paulo. In Duque de Caxias, a large Rio suburb, all of the ICU beds reserved for patients with Covid-19 are now occupied. Washington Reis, 53, mayor of the city, and the state governor, Wilson Witzel, 52, both tested positive for coronavirus.
“There’s a false sense of security among young people. But the virus has also been acting aggressively on these patients, who can still become a vector for contamination at home,” says Edmar Santos, state health secretary.
The most infected age band by the coronavirus in Rio de Janeiro is between 30 and 39 years old, but there are cases of hospitalization and death at a younger age, such as a 28-year-old woman in a sheltered period and a 23-year-old man, both without recent history of health issues.
In the case of the boy, the death certificate described him as obese. Considered a chronic disease, obesity is the only one of the comorbidities associated with coronavirus that records more deaths among people under 60 years of age (56 percent) than among the elderly.
In Brazil, according to the latest study by the Ministry of Health, the 25- to 34-year-old age group has seen the highest increase in the percentage of obesity (84 percent) since 2006. In Recife, only this week the deaths of two 38-year-old men due to coronavirus associated with obesity were reported.
In an interview with a reporter, physician Margareth Dalcolmo, a researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), opines that the high incidence of the disease among people under 60 is due to an adjustment to the country’s population profile.
“In Brazil, Covid-19 will rejuvenate. The distribution of the Brazilian population is different from the European one. We don’t have a percentage of elderly people like Italy or Spain. It is only logical that the disease is distributed mostly among young people. The demographic distribution in Brazil will give Brazilian characteristics to the disease. Furthermore, the virus has mutated and has already adapted to the country,” Dalcomo said.
Concerned about the rapid spread of the pandemic among the youth, some cities this week began large-scale testing of people suspected of having the coronavirus, in order to measure the extent of contagion.
This is the case in Florianopolis, where 72 percent of those infected are aged between 20 and 59. Classified by the Ministry of Health as an emergency, the capital of Santa Catarina has the sixth-highest incidence of Covid-19 in the country, 50 percent above the national average.
Source: El País