COVID-19 New York Update: Doctors Alarmed Over High Rate Of Young Patients 

A newly-released data from the New York City Health office revealed that over 40 percent of positive COVID-19 patients are between the ages of 18 to 44. Of these numbers, 1 in 5 patients who are hospitalized for coronavirus are under 44 years old.

The figures from NYC Health compounds the idea that, while those over 60 years old and above are vulnerable to COVID-19, no one is actually immune.

Doctors at New York hospitals said that there are surprisingly many young patients who come in with flu-like symptoms and then require a ventilator a few hours later. At least a handful of intubated ICU patients at NYU Langone Health’s Medical Center are in their 20s.

A 37-year-old coronavirus patient from the New York Presbyterian Hospital shared on Instagram that she has never smoked or had any respiratory issues before. However, she was advised to get to the ER as soon as possible after doctors found out her oxygen saturation was "dangerously low."

"This virus doesn’t care," Samantha Schwartz posted. "For weeks it’s been attacking my body (and mind tbh) in various erratically-inconsistent ways. Subtle at first, inconvenient after that, blatantly obvious in retrospect."

"So many patients are not fitting the picture that we’ve been told from China or Italy," Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital Dr. Kaedrea Jackson said. "This is not just elderly patients; it’s anyone."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in his daily press briefing on Wednesday that a lot of young people still do not get the idea that they may be infected and infect others, putting everyone's lives at risk.

One doctor posted a video appealing to young people to take coronavirus seriously to help lessen the number of patients at hospitals.

"Some hospitals don't have protective gear for staff or family members of patients that come to the hospitals. We're running out medication, we're running out of equipment and we're even running out of oxygen," the doctor said. "Don't test your immune system in this day and age. If you're unwell, stay home. If you're exposed to somebody, stay home."