ARCHIVED - 3 per cent of young adults have caught Covid-19 in the last fortnight in parts of Spain
Incidence rates of over 3,000 among 12 to 29 year olds in various northern regions
The spread of the fifth wave of coronavirus infection in Spain continued at an alarming rate over the weekend of 17th and 18th July, according to the latest update published on Monday afternoon by the Ministry of Health, and as has been the case throughout the last month the figures relating to teenagers and young adults are particularly worrying.
Among the population currently targeted for immunization it is the young who are being vaccinated last – only now is the campaign reaching those in their twenties – and the latest breakdown of incidence rates by age groups shows extraordinarily high figures in these sectors of the population. Among those aged 12 to 19 there have been 1,488 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last two weeks, and among 20- to 29-year-olds the figure is a staggering 1,794.
Bearing in mind that the “extreme risk” threshold established by the government is just 250, it can be seen that infection is rife among young adults, and in various of Spain’s 17 regions the situation is even more extreme. In Navarra the rates reported are 3,311 for teenagers and 3,333 for those in their twenties, while figures of over 3,000 are also calculated for the regions of Asturias, Castilla y León and Catalunya in the 20-29 group.
In the same group, even the lowest figure is the 630 in Castilla-La Mancha, two and a half times higher than the accepted “extreme risk” level!
Meanwhile, in the country as a whole incidence rates of below 250 are reported only in groups above the age of 50.
Although young people are generally more resistant to serious illness as a result of coronavirus infection the number of hospital patients is beginning to rise sharply, but at the same time the figures do serve to illustrate that while not 100 per cent effective, the vaccines being administered to the population are extremely useful in limiting the spread of the pandemic.
With over half of the entire population now fully vaccinated, the hope is that as the campaign reaches more and more young people the latest upward trend in infection rates can soon be reversed.