Hospitalisations from COVID-19 pose a “continued public health threat”, particularly to those adults aged 65 and above.
This is the warning of a study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which analysed hospitalisations between January and August this year.
The team found that adults aged 65 and older accounted for the lion’s share of all Covid-related hospitalisations — 63 percent, to be precise.
Furthermore, only 24 percent of these individuals were found to have been up-to-date with their coronavirus vaccinations and boosters at the time of their serious illness.
The senior group also represented 61 percent of Covid-related admissions to intensive care units, and 88 percent of in-hospital deaths from the virus.
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The study was undertaken by Dr Christopher Taylor of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and his colleagues.
The team wrote: “COVID-19–associated hospitalizations continue to predominantly affect adults aged ≥65 years and represent a continued public health threat.
“Many hospitalised adults aged ≥65 years had multiple underlying medical conditions, and most had not received the COVID-19 bivalent vaccine, which had been recommended before the period of this analysis.
“All adults — especially those aged ≥65 years and others at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19 illness — should reduce their risk for COVID-19–related hospitalizations and severe outcomes.”
Steps to be taken, they explained, include “receiving recommended COVID-19 vaccines, adopting measures to reduce risk for contracting SARS-CoV-2, and seeking early outpatient antiviral treatment after receipt of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result”.
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This advice comes as health experts are also warning Americans not to be lulled into a false sense of security by presently falling hospitalisation numbers — and to still get the latest booster jab.
Speaking at an event in Boston on Wednesday, CDC Director Mandy Cohen explained: “What I want folks to understand is that protection is decreasing over time — and this virus is changing.
“Yes, you may have had Covid a while back, and that gives you some protection.
“But to get the most protection against this form of the Covid virus that’s circulating right now, get the updated Covid vaccine.”
The full findings of the new study were published on the CDC website.
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