Young, middle-aged people hospitalized with coronavirus at high rates

BOSTON — What was initially thought to be a disease of the elderly and immune-compromised populations is infecting and hospitalizing nearly as many young and middle-aged people, statistics from Boston hospitals suggest.

Forty-four percent of all coronavirus admissions at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Woman’s Hospital are patients between the ages of 0 and 59, Gov. Charlie Baker said in a news conference Tuesday.

Dr. Alister Martin, an emergency room doctor at Mass General, told Boston 25 News he is seeing that trend on the ground.

"I remember very well a patient that we had that was in his early 30s, who didn't have any past medical history, didn't smoke, didn't vape and came in very, very short of breath," Martin said. "And within the first 30 minutes, everything that he did made his oxygen levels drop. And within the first hour, he had to be intubated, put on a ventilator."

It's unclear why that patient or other younger people are often so critically ill from the virus. Research about the new disease is still in its infancy.

"We were all trying to figure out, 'Why did this happen? Did he have lung injury Did he vape?'" Martin said of his young patient. "And I think that's when we really knew, that coronavirus doesn't discriminate, that coronavirus doesn't check IDs for age, that it affects all patients."

Some researchers across the country are analyzing data involving young people positive for coronavirus suffering strokes.

Martin said the information is preliminary, but he, too, has seen blood clots in the lungs of some patients and wouldn't be surprised if there is a correlation between the disease and stroke.

He believes the governor's information is an important reminder to young people that they are not immune to the disease.

"Young folks, myself included - so far - have this feeling of invincibility, this feeling that they won't be the ones to get sick," Martin said. "That if they hit the gym and go running and eat well, that that's all they need for protection. But this virus has proven different."

But the good news for the many young people hospitalized with coronavirus is that the prognosis is generally very good.

“When young patients do come in, the vast majority of them do well,” Martin said. “Even if they do go on the ventilator, they end up doing a lot better than other folks because they have the reserves.”

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RESOURCES:

- Massachusetts Coronavirus Information

- Boston Coronavirus Information

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