Adults between the ages of 20 and 49 are the largest distributors of COVID-19 in the United States, according to British researchers who say that targeting this age group for vaccination could speed up the reopening of the school.
A team at Imperial College London used cell phone data from more than 10 million people to estimate that 65 out of 100 infections come from people between the ages of 20 and 49 in the United States.
It was found that people in this age group accounted for about 72% of cases after the reopening of schools in October. Less than 5% came from children and less than 10% from adolescents.
Adults between the ages of 35 and 49 accounted for 41 percent of new cases by mid-August, compared to 35 percent for adults between the ages of 20 and 34, according to a peer-reviewed study published in Science.
“We find that adults between the ages of 20 and 49 are the leading factor in the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States and are the only age groups that contribute disproportionately to further spread, relative to the size of their population,” said Dr. Melodie. Monod of the Imperial College.
“While children and adolescents have contributed more to the spread of COVID-19 since school closure mandates were lifted in the fall of 2020, we find that these dynamics have not changed substantially since school reopening,” she added.
Dr Oliver Ratmann of the college said: “We believe this study is important because we demonstrate that adults aged 20-49 are the only age groups that have consistently supported widespread COVID-19 in the US, despite large variations in scale and timing of local epidemics.
“Thus, at least where no highly transmissible variants have been established, additional interventions targeting the 20-49 age group could control recurrence epidemics and prevent deaths,” he added.
Meanwhile, a new study suggests that coronavirus antibodies last at least six months after infection for most people who have contracted the error.
Research conducted by Biobank in the UK found that 99% of participants who tested positive for the previous infection kept antibodies for three months after becoming infected, while 88% did so during the full six months of infection. study, according to Sky News.
“This important study showed that the vast majority of people retain detectable antibodies for at least six months after coronavirus infection,” said Professor Naomi Allen, chief scientist at the UK Biobank.
Although we cannot be sure about this immunity, the results suggest that people may be protected from further infection for at least six months after the natural infection, Allen said.
“Longer follow-up will allow us to determine how long such protection will last,” she added.