Over the last two weeks, 89 people have been hospitalized for the coronavirus. Dr. Joshua Kern, Vice President of Medical Affairs for St. Luke’s said that’s a four to fivefold increase.
“We're actually probably at the tip of the iceberg of how bad it might get in the hospital, because often hospitalizations lag by one to two weeks from the surging number," said Kern.
He said in the last seven days, more than 75% of the patients who tested positive at St. Luke’s have been under the age of 50.
Young people usually recover from the virus even if they are hospitalized, said Kern, which may be one reason the death rates have stayed low. But he also said fatalities often happen weeks after a positive test.
“They don't die early, like other infections often happen," said Kern."People tend to die almost three weeks into their initial symptoms of the infection.”
Kern said the wave of young people getting sick is concerning because older, more at-risk groups could get sick in the coming weeks.
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