Young Americans are infecting older family members with COVID-19 at home, experts say
Millennials and Gen Zers are living at home more than ever and their social lives are impacting their elders, who are often the most vulnerable population once exposed to COVID-19
A new national report states that growing evidence supports the belief that young people who work outside of their family homes are infecting their family members.
The new information emerges as the Trump administration is pushing to reopen schools. The push is likely to affect families where more than one generation lives together.
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The Washington Post is reporting that “front-line caregivers, elected officials, and experts in Houston, South Florida, and elsewhere are seeing patterns of hospitalization and death.”
“We think when Texas started opening up, that was May 1, it was young people going to bars and restaurants, out and about, gathering socially,” said Pat Herlihy, chief of critical care at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston told The Post.
“My hypothesis now is that they’re engaging with the larger families, they’re engaging with the 60 to 70-year-olds — parents, uncles, aunts. They’re engaging much more with that vulnerable population.”
The report notes that young adults make up a large part of the “essential” workforce, and are more likely to live with others.
According to Pew Research, 64 million Americans live in multi-generational households. The data notes that Asian and Hispanic people are more likely to share a home.
“Among 25 to 29-year-olds in 2016, 33% were residents of such households. Among a broader group of young adults, those ages 18 to 34, living with parents surpassed other living arrangements in 2014 for the first time in more than 130 years.”
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The data shows that young people without a college degree are more likely to live at home, while those with a degree are more likely to live with a spouse or partner in their own home.
According to the report from The Post, national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien contracted the coronavirus from his daughter. O’Brien is the highest-ranking official in the Trump administration to contract the virus.
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