Younger people report COVID-19 symptoms amid the U.K. variant’s surge

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that hospitals continue to see younger adults with severe cases of COVID-19, according to CNBC.

• Walensky said people in their 30s and 40s are going to the hospital with severe COVID-19 symptoms right now amid the ongoing pandemic.
• “Data suggests this is all happening as we are seeing increasing prevalence of variants, with 52 jurisdictions now reporting cases of variants of concern,” Walensky said Wednesday, per CNBC.

Worries over COVID-19 variants

Scientists have long suggested that COVID-19 variants have been spreading throughout the United States. The variant originally discovered in the United Kingdom — called the B.1.1.7 variant — became the dominant strain of the U.S., as I wrote for the Deseret News.

• “Based on our most recent estimates from CDC surveillance, the B.1.1.7 variant is now the most common lineage circulating in the United States,” Walensky said, New York magazine reports.

What you can do to stop COVID-19

Walensky called for Americans to practice health measures to stop the coronavirus.

• “I’m pleading with you, for the sake of our nation’s health,” Walensky said. “Cases climbed last spring, they climbed again in the summer, they will climb now if we stop taking precautions when we continue to get more and more people vaccinated.”