LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky and Indiana are both working to launch portals to report coronavirus cases linked to schools. While those systems should be up and running by the end of September, the FOCUS team took some graphs to break down how the virus is impacting each age group.
Indiana
The ages are along the bottom, while the blue bars show cases by age and the orange bars show deaths by age. This graph shows the totals from the star in March. One trend remains true, the risk of death increases with age.
Still, Indiana State Health Commissioner, Dr. Kristina Box, reported in September nearly 50% of the new cases are those under 30 years old.
Since the start of the pandemic in March, those under 30 years old are about one-third of the total case in Indian but less than one percent of the deaths.
That increase is linked to increased testing among the younger age groups. For perspective, 35% of tests since March have been those under 30.
With more schools and colleges back in session officials say younger people tend to have larger social circles and are less likely to social distance contributing a surge in the spread of the virus.
Kentucky
Since March, just more than one-third of the cases in Kentucky are those under 30. In comparison, less than 1% of the deaths have been those under 30 years old.
Nearly 50% of the deaths in the Commonwealth are those 80 years old and older. In Kentucky, we do not have data for tests by age groups but we know Universities are testing students.
While school-age kids and college students will likely survive the virus, officials say they can still spread the virus. As you know, a younger person could spread the virus to older groups and that could cause deaths to increase.
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