Why COVID hospitalizations are trending younger

One doctor in Saskatchewan believes COVID-19 variants of concern aren’t exclusively attaching themselves to young people.

“It’s not that they particularly attack younger people over older people, it’s that they attack everybody more,” said Dr. Kevin Wasko, who’s the provincial physician lead with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA).

He said COVID is impacting younger people more than it did before because many older people in the province have some level of protection after receiving at least one vaccination dose.

“Right now we know the variant that’s dominant is the U.K. variant in Saskatchewan, and particularly in southern Saskatchewan, and the vaccines that are available to us right now all work very well against that variant,” Wasko said.

The SHA has said there are a growing number of individuals under the age of 40 in hospitals with COVID. Some are even in intensive care.

Not everyone can work from home, Wasko said, adding those who have to go out should be offered some kind of protection.

There have been calls for the Saskatchewan government to alter its vaccine rollout plan. That includes adding more frontline and essential workers to the queue. Premier Scott Moe has said the province’s age-based model will give everybody access to a vaccine by June.

“If we slow that down, we may not have everyone in this province to have access to a vaccine until a number of weeks later,” Moe said.

Wasko said he would see it as continuation in moving down in ages while at the same time adding eligibility to certain groups.