We’ve seen what COVID-19 has done to some other countries. China and Italy have seen severe consequences from the virus, with many cases and lots of deaths. But unfortunately, America is catching up as it inevitably made its way here. We’ve studied the patterns and statistics from those countries. We thought we knew what to expect, but a startling fact that’s emerging is it’s affecting America differently. And not in a good way.
We’re seeing far more cases where young people are infected and admitted to the hospital. Nearly 40% of hospitalization cases for COVID 19 so far have been people age 20-54. And almost half of the patients admitted into intensive care are under the age of 65. Seeing such a high number of younger adults hospitalized is not what we initially expected, and we’re not sure why it’s happening.
Overall Health is More Important Than Age
One thing we’ve learned is that a person’s overall health is more important than their age when it comes to increasing risk should one contract COVID-19. The presence of other chronic health conditions seems to give one the highest mortality risk, in any age group. Rather than the lungs, many doctors are starting to see death from the virus coming from cardiovascular problems and obesity. This claim is observable when you look at states like Louisiana and Mississippi. They have some of the worst health rankings in the country and are getting hit hard by the virus. But again, older people tend to have the most health problems, so it becomes difficult to separate a cause from these statistics alone.
Does the Virus Mutate, and is it worse now?
While the virus does go through mutations or small genetic differences, at a rate of about 2 per month, there is no evidence to suggest that it’s becoming more contagious or deadly. The mutations are all so minute that they don’t alter the function of the virus or its behavior. The evolution of infectious disease is quite common, and for comparison, influenza can have 8 to 10 mutations per month.
So, if it isn’t this, what is it?
Interestingly, some are starting to believe that it could be cultural. America is one of the world’s leading consumers of drugs. And we’re not just talking prescriptions. We are in the middle of a massive drug epidemic, specifically with opioids and methamphetamines. On top of this, much of our population smokes, and teen vaping has been on the rise. These factors could combine to make American youth more susceptible to the virus’ complications.
An overlooked epidemic
The United States has the highest rates of drug use disorder in the world. Our prescription drug consumption is the largest in the world, and we’re in the middle of a decades-long drug epidemic defined by overdose deaths. The volume of drugs that comes into this country could have served as an adequate carrier alone for COVID-19 without people bringing it in through travel.And the age group that’s smoking and injecting them? Mostly young adults.
Over 20 million Americans have a substance use disorder, which illustrates that our country consumes a lot of drugs. And many people see significant health problems due to this. There’s a lot to suggest that the colliding of the drug epidemic and the coronavirus pandemic will ultimately take many lives.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse suggested in a report on April 16th that the population of people with Substance Use Disorders will be especially hard hit. This implies that substance abuse could be viewed as one of the “underlying conditions” that makes people at higher risk from the virus. There are a multitude of ways that addiction not only increases mortality risk, should one get the virus, but can influence one’s behavior so that they’re more susceptible to contracting it.
A logical explanation
This phenomenon could explain why so many young people are becoming ill at a higher rate than other countries who’ve experienced COVID-19 outbreaks. Smoking and vaping anything will reduce lung function and make people slower to recover from illnesses, especially those that affect the respiratory system. And this virus directly attacks the lungs. Someone who may have been asymptomatic if they didn’t vape or smoke could find themselves hospitalized should they contract the virus because they can’t fight it off.
Similarly, drug users are generally unhealthy, and many of them smoke drugs as a preferred route of administration. Drug users are also more likely to smoke cigarettes, so it could be a twofold problem. Opioids are America’s drug of choice, and these drugs by themselves impair lung function. So, a 27-year-old who uses heroin daily would have their lungs in a depressed state chronically, increasing their likelihood of pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19. If they get the virus and had other health issues like pneumonia, their ability to fight it off without requiring hospitalization would be substantially worse.
What we know and what to do
Those who use drugs live a higher-risk lifestyle making them less likely or able to abide by COVID-19 safety protocols. We’ve already seen evidence that young people are more likely to disregard social distancing policies by spring break partying and vacationing, so adding drugs to the mix likely won’t better the situation. Young adults seem to be the age group that has the highest rates of addiction and deaths due to Substance Use Disorder. With addiction comes more elevated rates of disease, homelessness, and hospitalization, so the likelihood of viral infection is higher as well.
This subject is so new, and it hasn’t been studied enough to have any statistics behind it. But we know enough about both epidemics to safely say that drug use doesn’t increase your survival when it comes to coronavirus. And when you look at which age groups use drugs most, it’s younger people. It could very well be that these two health problems are colliding. We need to keep fighting both battles before we lose more lives.