Data from NSW Health about the current COVID-19 outbreak shows just how badly the Delta strain is impacting young Aussies compared to last year.
Numbers crunched by the ABC show that out of around 2,400 cases reported from the current outbreak so far, almost half are people under 30. Almost 600 of those are children and teenagers, while over 500 are people in their 20s.
Over 400 cases were in their 30s, including a Brazilian international student who tragically died over the weekend after contracting COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the remaining cases which total almost 900 are from people aged 40 and up.
“In previous strands, we had not seen younger people get the virus in the way they are [now] or transfer the virus in the way they are,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said last week.
What’s worse is that the Delta strain is also causing more severe disease in young people, too.
“People have been reluctant to call this out, but I think it’s now very clear that Delta is different to anything we have seen so far,” Professor Tony Cunningham from the Westmead Institute for Medical Research told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We’ve got a virus which is clearly causing serious disease in younger people and it’s clearly more virulent.”
With all this in mind, it would be great if young Aussies could actually get bloody vaccinated.
Anyone over 18 can currently get the AstraZeneca jab from a GP, while in NSW pharmacies will be able to give the jab to young people from this week.
You can find out where to get the AstraZeneca jab at the government’s eligibility checker (just remember to tick the box saying you want it).
Delta is clearly a different beast to what we’ve dealt with before, and vaccination is our way out of lockdown.
