Americans between the ages of 20 and 49 were responsible for more than 70% of the spread.
A new study reaffirms that while severe coronavirus disease and death most commonly affect the elderly, younger adults are the cause of the spread.
Americans between the ages of 20 and 49 were responsible for more than 70% of the spread of COVID-19 last year, according to a study by Imperial College London’s department of mathematics.
The report, published in Science Tuesday, noted that deaths during the late summer and fall were mostly among people over 50 and not among the younger population.
“This addresses this underlying false story … that if you guard the most vulnerable, you can let the virus run free,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News employee. “If you let it predominate in the younger age groups, it will still affect the elderly and vulnerable groups.”
As the country begins to bounce back from the second wave of cases and vaccination increases, the newspaper’s authors called on young adults to heed health warnings to stem 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 adults among themselves.
“Certain age groups, such as young adults, dropped their guard,” said Brownstein, who was not involved in the study. “[The report] places more responsibility on those in the younger age groups who were trying to live a normal life and had a little bit of COVID fatigue. “
The authors of the paper also found that after school reopening in the fall, children and teens between 0 and 19 years old contributed to 15% of COVID-19 cases. Children did not mingle with other groups as often, according to the report.
“This adds to the growing body of knowledge that allowing school-aged children to return to classrooms with good protocols will not be the main driver of community transfer,” said Brownstein.
The report said that “additional interventions among adults aged 20-49” would prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“I think we know we need to bring the vaccine to the most vulnerable, but strategies that allow us to combine different age groups and have more access are also good,” said Brownstein. “If we have an oversupply … it’s okay to expand it to others.”
Eric Strauss of ABC News contributed to this report.