According to a New York Times article published today, there have been 88,000 cases of COVID-19 reported at colleges and universities across the United States. The University of Georgia has the dubious distinction of most cases at 3,045, followed by the University of Alabama with 2,225. Many people argue that this does not matter, as younger and healthier people are not as likely to get sick or die from the virus. While true, these cases are likely to spread to the older population over time. This has been noticed in three recent data sets in three different geographic locations – Florida; Spain; and Marseille, France. See the graphs below, all of which show a similar trend of increasing infections among young people that spread to older populations.
Just because younger people are not as likely to have serious effects from COVID-19 does not make it a concern that cases are spreading, as there is a clear pattern that it will spread to older people, who have much higher mortality rates from the virus.
The UK Government is now returning to restrictions of a maximum of 6 people allowed to congregate (from up to 30 people previously). But, schools are open as normal, people are returning to offices, buses and trains are unrestricted. Although there is a mandatory requirement to cover up with a face mask. The Government are also considering a 1000 people allowed in sports venues e.g. for soccer. Given that there are now indicators suggesting a second more potent wave (especially as we approach winter) the Government are stuck, as far as I can see, between a half do and a half don’t.
“Half do and half don’t” – that is an apt phrase. So that is a national mandate? Here in the U.S. there are no national-level restrictions, the federal government is leaving it up to each state – some states are more restrictive than others.
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