‘Complacency’ driving Covid case numbers in young people, AMA says
Complacency could be to blame for the increase in young people with Covid, according to one of South Australia’s top medical experts.
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Confirmed Covid-19 cases have spiked among millennials in recent weeks, with one of South Australia’s top medical figures concerned complacency in the younger population may be to blame.
Australian Medical Association SA President Dr Michelle Atchison said cases among 20 to 29-year-olds had surged in recent weeks, with university returning and Adelaide’s festival season kicking off, and urged people to take the virus seriously.
“It seems to be that younger population that’s driving the case numbers,” Dr Atchison said.
“I think there’s certainly a high degree of complacency about what it means to catch this virus...perhaps people are being less cautious than they should be about catching it.”
Dr Atchison said she was unsure of the exact increase in cases for the age group but had been informed by SA Health this week that there had been a significant jump.
The age group remains the highest percentage age bracket of confirmed cases in the state, with almost 35,000 as of March 2 and more than 7500 more cases than the 30 to 39-year-old bracket.
The spike came as Police Commissioner Grant Stevens announced on Wednesday that South Australia’s emergency declaration - and all restrictions that fall under it - could be revoked as soon as April 1.
Dr Atchison acknowledged that restrictions had been tough on peoples' social lives but said the increased risk of transmission had to be managed.
“We (the AMA) just need to watch the health system...we can’t afford to go back to pausing elective surgery again,” she said.
“We can’t afford to do that so we will step in and say ‘look we need to bring back some level of restrictions’ if it starts to impact the health system.”
Several hospitality venues have received fines in recent weeks for breaching Covid restrictions, with one female patron telling The Advertiser at the time that young people weren’t concerned with catching Covid as they had “already had it”.
South Australia today recorded 2307 Covid cases - the new biggest increase since Australia Day - and up from 2075 cases on Wednesday.
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