Montrealers Aged 10-19 Have Been Seeing The Most COVID-19 Cases & We Asked CIUSSS About It
On October 31, MTL Blog reported that COVID-19 cases in Montreal youth aged 10 to 19 per 100,000 people were notably higher than other age groups.
The same was true on November 9 when young people aged 10 to 19 saw the highest number of cases — per 100,000 people as well as in total — in Montreal in the last two weeks, according to Santé Montreal data.
This age group saw 282.5 new cases per 100,000 people and 562 new cases total in the last two weeks.
We asked a spokesperson from the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal (CIUSSS), Eric Forest, for more information.
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562
New COVID-19 cases in young Montrealers aged 10 to 19, in the last 14 days
Why is this significant?
The age group with the second-highest rate of cases per 100,000 people in the same time span was Montrealers aged 40 to 49 at 197.4.
In the province, 20 to 29-year-olds make up the highest proportion of COVID-19 cases at 15.9%.
So the numbers exhibited by the 10 to 19 age group in Montreal stand out.
Is the entire 10 to 19 age group equally impacted?
More COVID-19 cases in the age group are being found in the five to 11 age range than in the 12 to 17 age range, Forest told MTL Blog.
Why is this happening?
Forest said the majority of cases in the 10 to 19 age group were seen in school children, as they experience more social contact by attending classes.
"The fact that schools are open is one of the factors that may explain the number of cases [...] among young people," he said.
"This does not call into question the importance of keeping schools open, but leads us to continue working on measures to reduce the risk of transmission in these environments."