Adults in the 20 to 49 age group are biggest COVID-19 superspreaders: study says

The group that comprises the 20 to 49-year-olds are the ones touted as COVID-19 superspreaders in the U.S., a team of British researchers revealed.

In a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Science, the team from Imperial College London found that out of 100 infections in the U.S., 65 of them were in the 20 to 49 group. The researchers utilised cellphone data out of more than 10 million people in the U.S. to come up with the findings. The team suggested that targeting this age group for vaccination will be able to hasten the re-openings of schools.

"We find adults aged 20-49 are a main driver of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States and are the only age groups contributing disproportionally to onward spread, relative to their population size," said Dr. Melodie Monod, member of the Imperial College COVID-19 response team.

She also stated that although children and teens contributed more to the spread from the time that the closure on schools was lifted in the fall of 2020, they found that the dynamics of such spread did not substantially change.

The researchers found that the age bracket between 20 to 49 make up for about 72 percent of the cases after schools were reopened in October. Children also tested positive but they only comprised less than five percent. Teens made up less than 10 percent.

Dr. Oliver Ratmann, one of the researchers and a faculty of Natural Sciences at the college, said that the study is quite important since they have seen that adults who are in the age bracket of 20 to 49, are the only ones who have been consistent in sustaining the spread of COVID-19 across the U.S.

"Thus, at least where highly transmissible variants have not established, additional interventions targeting the 20-49 age group could bring resurgent epidemics under control and avert deaths," said Ratmann in the college's release.

Coronavirus Superspreaders

"This work is a big step in understanding how age affects the dynamics of COVID-19 epidemics," said Dr. Samir Bhatt, also from Imperial College London.

The researchers noted that in areas where highly-transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants have not yet been ascertained, additional interventions for the 20 to 49 age group such as mass vaccination using vaccines that block transmission may bring a resurgence of COVID-19 under control. Ultimately, such a measure could help in averting deaths.