COVID-19 cases rise among young adult-age groups

COVID-19 cases have risen steadily across the country in the last few weeks, with some age groups seeing their highest rates of hospitalizations yet.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every age group under 50 across the U.S. beat its previous record for hospitalizations in the last two weeks.

The situation is not much different locally, according to Autumn Grim, an epidemiologist and assistant director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center.

COVID-19 cases among younger age groups have increased significantly in the last month, she said.

Grim attributes the spike in cases to the delta variant.

"We're all concerned we might become the next Springfield," Grim said, referring to the high number of cases in Southwest Missouri over the last few months. "We don't want that, but it's a possibility with this particular variant because of the transmissibility."

Grim explained the delta variant's transmissibility with how many people one COVID-positive person could spread the virus to. People sick with other variants may infect two or three people, she said, while those sick with the delta variant could spread the virus to from six to 10 people.

"It's just so contagious," she said.

Grim added people aged 65 and older are far more vaccinated than younger generations. Upwards of 70% to 80% of people aged 65 and older are vaccinated. Younger groups total to 30% or less, according to Grim.

The delta variant has the same level of transmissibility across all age groups, she said. However, in Cape Girardeau County, those aged 20 to 29 have frequently led the county in cases.

Currently, the same age group accounts for 2,099 of the county's total 10,843 cases, according to data released from the health center Monday. Cape Girardeau County residents ages 20 to 39 make up the bulk of the county's active cases — 149 of the total 257 active cases.

"They're not getting vaccinated and they're typically more active, so there's more potential for exposure in those age groups," Grim said.

To make the vaccine more appealing to younger age groups, the health center stopped requiring appointments to get the vaccine, according to Grim. She added several local pharmacies do the same.

Vaccination locations and events may be found at keepcapestrong.com.

Area county COVID-19 numbers

• Bollinger — eight new cases, 76 active, 1,600 total
• Cape Girardeau — 74 new cases, 257 total active, 10,448 total
• Scott — 13 new cases, 330 active, 4,651 total
• Stoddard — 53 new cases, 217 active, 4,115 total

Perry County did not provide updated virus statistics Monday.

Across the state, authorities reported 11,569 new virus cases in the past seven days, down 12.7% from the previous seven days. The testing positivity rate was 13.3%, down 1.2 percentage points from the previous week.

In Missouri, 51% of the population has initiated a vaccination, and 44% has completed a vaccination regimen. In Southeast Missouri counties:

• Bollinger — 29.1% initiated, 25.1% completed
• Cape Girardeau — 42.8% initiated, 36.5% completed
• Perry — 35.3% initiated, 30.6% completed
• Scott — 39.4% initiated, 34.1% completed
• Stoddard — 34.2% initiated, 28.5% completed.