Many young adults in Monroe County, like their peers around the country, have been somewhat cavalier about the lethal coronavirus.
Over the weekend, for instance, thousands of young people converged on East End bars for St. Patrick's Day festivities, even after county and state health officials urged people to stay home and stick to small gatherings.
Although the virus has been thus far dramatically less fatal for people under 50, younger and healthier people can still contract the disease -- and new data released by the county shows they are.
Eight of the 30 coronavirus patients in the county are under 50 years old, according to the county, which for the first time on Thursday released the ages and genders of all the confirmed cases.
Three of them are in their 20s, two of them are in their 30s, and three are in their 40s. They include five women and three men.
Seven patients in the county were in their 50s, including five men and two women.
The breakdown dovetails with that of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis released Wednesday that showed 38 percent of hospitalized coronavirus patients in the United States were younger than 55.
The CDC examined 4,226 COVID-19 cases. The highest percentage of severe outcomes were among the elderly, as has been the case around the country. Nearly 80 percent of U.S. deaths were people older than 65.
But the percentage of people requiring hospitalization was more evenly distributed between the old and young, with 55 percent of those hospitalized being younger than 65.
"These preliminary data also demonstrate that severe illness leading to hospitalization, including ICU admission and death, can occur in adults of any age with COVID-19," the report read.
The Monroe County data showed that eight of the 30 patients here are hospitalized, but did not break down the hospitalizations by age.
David Andreatta is CITY's editor. He can be reached at dandreatta@rochester-citynews.com.