FILE PHOTO: Medical workers take care of a patient at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Nossa Senhora da Conceicao hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, November 19, 2020. REUTERS/Diego Vara
BRASILIA (Reuters) – COVID-19 infections continue to spread fast across the Americas as a result of relaxed prevention measures and intensive care units are filling up with younger people, the director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Carissa Etienne said on Wednesday.
In Brazil, mortality rates have doubled among those younger than 39, quadrupled among those in their 40s and tripled for those in their 50s since December, she said.
Hospitalization rates among those under 39 years have increased by more than 70% in Chile and in some areas of the United States more people in their 20’s are now being hospitalized for COVID-19 than people in their 70’s.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle)
