Americans between 20 and 49 years were responsible for more than 70% of the spread.
A new study reaffirms that, although severe coronavirus disease and death affect older people more, younger adults are the cause of the spread.
Americans aged 20 to 49 were responsible for more than 70% of the spread of COVID-19 last year, according to a study by the Department of Mathematics at Imperial College London.
The report, which was published in the journal Science on Tuesday, noted that deaths during the late summer and fall occurred mainly among people over 50 years of age and not the younger population.
“It addresses this underlying false narrative … that if you protect the most vulnerable, you can let the virus run wild,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and a collaborator with ABC News. “If you allow this to happen with force in the younger age groups, it will still affect the elderly and vulnerable groups.”
As the country begins to continue to recover from the second increase in cases and vaccination increases, the newspaper’s authors urged young adults to pay attention to health warnings to contain the spread.
The researchers used mathematical equations, mobility data and other information to determine the correlation between age groups and the spread of the coronavirus.
The report concluded that one of the biggest factors behind the spread was the general movement of young and middle-aged adults among them.
“Certain age groups, such as young adults, were letting their guard down,” said Brownstein, who was not involved in the study. “[The report] puts more responsibility on those in the younger age groups who were trying to live a normal life and had a little fatigue from COVID. “
The authors of the article also found that, after schools reopened in the fall, children and adolescents between 0 and 19 years old contributed 15% of the cases of COVID-19. Children did not mix so much with other groups, according to the report.
“This adds to the growing body of knowledge that allowing schoolchildren to return to classrooms with good protocols in place will not be the main transmission factor in the community,” said Brownstein.
The report said that “additional interventions among adults aged 20 to 49” would prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“I think we know that we need to distribute the vaccine to the most vulnerable, but strategies that allow us to combine groups of different ages and more access are also good,” said Brownstein. “If we have an oversupply … it’s okay to extend it to others.”
Eric Strauss of ABC News contributed to this report.