JMH reports more young people hospitalized with COVID-19

COVID-19 variants could be to blame for an increase in hospitalizations among those under 40, a local health official says.

In the last week, Johnson Memorial Hospital admitted four people under 40 with severe respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 that have been much more commonly seen among the elderly, said Dr. David Dunkle, president and CEO of Johnson Memorial Health.

On Wednesday, all four people being treated for COVID-19 at the hospital were 52 or younger, Dunkle said.

As more older individuals are getting vaccinated, there have been fewer hospitalizations among those age groups, both locally and across the country. In Johnson County, where 24% of the population is now fully vaccinated, about 41,700 are 60 or older.

But now, with variants that are more easily passed from person to person and have an easier time breaking down immune system barriers, hospitalization rates are going up across the country.

And people under 60, many of whom have not been vaccinated yet, account for about half of those admissions in some states with high community spread of the variants. In Johnson County, about 11,500 residents under 60 are fully vaccinated.

Admissions among younger age groups started to pick up about a week ago, Dunkle said. Before last week, the hospital rarely admitted a person that young, he said.

Though many of the young patients have underlying health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, not all do, he said.

Because the variant has mutated to more easily evade immune systems and spread, it is easier than ever to be infected regardless of a person’s age or health status, public health officials say.

The increase in cases demonstrates that young people, just like their elders, should continue to be vigilant about masking up, socially distancing and washing their hands until they are vaccinated, Dunkle said.

“There is so much positivity in what we have done with the vaccine, so I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer,” he said. “But when we have young people in our hospital who are on oxygen, I’m scared.”

Indiana has 220 diagnosed cases of the UK variant and five cases total of two additional variants, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No cases of any variant have been identified officially in Johnson County to the knowledge of Dunkle or the Johnson County Health Department.

However, none of the hospital’s patients have been tested for the variant, as variant testing is not widespread in Indiana. The assumption that the new cases are associated with the variant is based on the patients’ ages in combination with the severity of their illness and the national trend that points to increased severity among young people, he said.

Dunkle says the younger patients were likely sickened while on vacation or infected by someone else who brought it back from vacation, due to an uptick in COVID-19 variant cases in popular spring break destinations and neighboring Michigan.

Another indicator the variant could be present is the county’s rising positivity rate. The local 7-day positivity rate has risen faster than the state. The county’s positivity rate was 5.8% on Wednesday compared to the state’s 4.5%.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday that “cases are increasing nationally, and we are seeing this occur predominately in younger adults.”

Walensky attributed the rise to the increasing spread of variants, as well as youth sports and extracurricular activities.

The sharpest uptick in cases is being reported in states with the widest known community spread of variants. New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey together reported 44% of total COVID-19 infections in the United States, or nearly 197,500 new cases, according data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Total U.S. infections during the same week numbered more than 452,000.

Indiana’s variant case count has increased by about 70 in the past few days, with just 150 reported earlier in the week, according to CDC data. Though Michigan has the most severe uptick in variant cases, Ohio and Illinois are also seeing an increase, with more than 400 cases now reported, data shows.

Michigan hospitals are treating roughly 3,300 adults with confirmed infections, which is 85% of the fall peak. That is quadruple the number of active infections reported a month ago. And about half of infected Michiganders are under 60.

The best way to slow the spread of the variants and head off another surge is to vaccinate as many people as possible, Dunkle said.

“The best tool we have in this fight is the vaccine,” he said. “We know these vaccines are still effective against the variants.” Daily Journal