This image provided by The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (orange)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (green) cultured in the lab.

Image Credit: (NIAID-RML via AP)

COVID-19 is not just a disease that hits the elderly, especially in the Interior Health region.

This region has the youngest median age for people testing positive for COVID-19 at 38 years. That compares to 55 years old in the Vancouver Coastal region and a provincial average of 42 years old.

This data comes from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and is updated weekly.

The numbers, of course, could be skewed by the fact that the Interior has a relatively low number of cases, 356 out of 3,662 and more than one-third (130) are linked to young people partying in early July.

READ MORE: There are now 130 Kelowna residents with COVID-19 linked to July 1 parties

But it’s not just that people in Interior Health are younger when they get the disease, the average age of those who die from the disease is also lower, at 73. That compares, to 87 in Vancouver Coastal and a provincial average of 85.

And, while the recent surge in Kelowna cases makes the city a hot spot for the disease, the Interior case count is actually pretty low compared to some parts of the province.

In the past week there have been 45 new cases in Interior Health, far fewer than the 115 in the Fraser Health region but ahead of the larger Vancouver Coastal region with only 25 new cases.

The data base also shows that it’s not only the older folks who get seriously ill from COVID-19.

Two children under the age of 10 have been hospitalized in B.C., but only one aged 10 to 19.

In the 20 to 39 year bracket there were 53 people hospitalized, 16 of whom ended up in intensive care but no one under the age of 40 has died.

The largest number of people (129 out of 542) who were hospitalized were aged 70 to 79 but the greatest number of people who died (81 of 194) were aged 80 to 89. Another 55 were more than 90 years old.

The data also shows how B.C. has flattened the curve in terms of numbers of new cases and deaths compared to other provinces in Canada.

Image Credit: Submitted/B.C. Centre for Disease Control

Image Credit: Submitted/B.C. Centre for Disease Control

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