{"id":206999,"date":"2021-03-20T15:10:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T12:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/in-brazil-covid-increasingly-hitting-the-young\/"},"modified":"2021-03-20T15:10:01","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T12:10:01","slug":"in-brazil-covid-increasingly-hitting-the-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/in-brazil-covid-increasingly-hitting-the-young\/","title":{"rendered":"#In Brazil, COVID increasingly hitting the young"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#In Brazil, COVID increasingly hitting the young<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Leading the morning medical meeting at an intensive care unit in Sao Paulo, Jaques Sztajnbok reviews his COVID-19 patients.\n <\/p>\n

Two, aged 56 and 53, are on ventilators. A third is breathing on his own, but writhing in agony. He is 26 years old. <\/p>\n

There are fewer wrinkles and less gray hair among patients in Brazil’s intensive care units as the country reels from a surge in COVID-19 that is increasingly hitting people under 60.<\/p>\n

“We’re seeing a high prevalence of younger patients, with no pre-existing conditions, hospitalized with very severe cases,” Sztajnbok, head of intensive care at Emilio Ribas Hospital, told AFP.<\/p>\n

“The same trend is being reported at ICUs across Brazil.”<\/p>\n

In Brazil, like most of the world, severe cases and deaths from COVID-19 were mainly among the elderly during the first wave of the novel coronavirus last year.<\/p>\n

Now, the country is dealing with a devastating resurgence of the virus, blamed partly on the emergence of a new strain known as “P1” or the “Brazil variant.”<\/p>\n

The recent surge has pushed hospitals across Brazil close to the breaking point, as the country’s death toll has soared to 285,000\u2014second only to the United States.<\/p>\n

This time, the demographic profile of the victims is increasingly young.<\/p>\n

Before the trend emerged last December, the 30- to 59-year-old age group represented 20 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Brazil.<\/p>\n

In about three months, that figure increased to 27 percent, according to health ministry data.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the share of the death toll for over-60s fell from 78 percent to 71 percent.<\/p>\n

“Half the (COVID-19) patients hospitalized in our nursing wards are under 60,” said Luiz Carlos Pereira Junior, the director of Emilio Ribas.<\/p>\n

A year ago, at the start of the first wave in Brazil, that figure was 35 percent, he said.<\/p>\n

Living dangerously<\/b><\/p>\n

Health experts say part of the issue is that young people are following social<\/a> distancing and masking recommendations less than the elderly.<\/p>\n

In a country whose president, far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, has railed against stay-at-home measures and face masks, many people have continued with life as usual despite the pandemic, especially the young.<\/p>\n

It is common to see packed subways and buses, streets crowded with mask-less pedestrians and police raids to break up illegal parties and clandestine bars.<\/p>\n

“Last year, I think the fear of an unknown disease had such an impact on people that they listened to experts’ recommendations. But they aren’t anymore,” said Sztajnbok.<\/p>\n

“Young people have lost their fear.”<\/p>\n

Vaccine effect<\/b><\/p>\n

Even as the young expose themselves more to the virus, the elderly are starting to benefit from the protection of vaccines.<\/p>\n

“Some states have already finished vaccinating over-75s,” said epidemiologist Walter Ramalho of the University of Brasilia.<\/p>\n

“And the elderly general<\/a>ly stay home more than the young,” he told news<\/a> site Poder 360.<\/p>\n

Public health institute Fiocruz warned this week that the country of 212 million people is facing “the worst health care and hospital collapse” in its history.<\/p>\n

Having to hospitalize more young people only adds to the pressure.<\/p>\n

The average stay in intensive care has nearly doubled, from 15 to 28 days, according to Graccho Alvim, head of the Private Hospital Association of Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

“That’s because we’re receiving a lot of young patients, and they resist the disease better than the elderly,” Alvim told newspaper Globo.<\/p>\n

In what some called a troubling warning sign, a 22-year-old COVID-19 patient on Thursday became the first person in Sao Paulo to die while waiting in line for an ICU bed.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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\n In Brazil, COVID increasingly hitting the young (2021, March 20)
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