Health officials say COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising in young people

LOS ANGELES - Health officials from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising in young people.

Rise in COVID cases with people under 41 years old

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, health officials from LA County say the majority of newly reported cases are people under 41 years old.

“We continue to reach concerning milestones and today [Sunday] we are seeing the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Right now, young adults are being hospitalized at a rate not seen before. No matter how young you are, you are vulnerable to this virus," said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Director of Public Health.

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The majority of recent cases have occurred in people under the age of 41 years old with over 52% or 77,000 people younger than 41 years old infected with COVID-19, according to data from the Department of Public Health.

Recent videos are also circulating around social media showing young people gathering in crowds at house parties.

"I'm not surprised because people like to party. People don't listen so I'm not really shocked. It's not like a shocker to me really," said Shay who was exercising at Runyon Canyon.

Chrissy, who was also at Runyon Canyon exercising on Monday, said she hasn't taken any risks.

"I'm not concerned about it [COVID-19] because I do what I need to do. I wear my mask out in public and I don't go out and be at parties and things like that," said Chrissy.

Lena Drake and Jasmine Stone are concerned about the virus spreading within young people.

"I don't necessarily have the health problems that would make me afraid for my life but the fact that this is so easy to spread, if I get it and nothing happens to me, something might happen to 100 other people. That's what's scary is no one's safe to get it," said Drake.

Stone said her mom works the front lines.

"She's [Stone's mom] told me a lot of things that are a reality right now and it's really scary. It's very scary that people aren't taking the precautions because even on this hike [at Runyon Canyon] just now, I saw several without masks and it's like it's common sense you see the numbers rising," she said.

Connor Johnson said his relatives live out of state, but he's not worried about COVID-19 and sees his friends often.

"We still hang out and stuff, I'm not gonna lie, but we're in it together. We take care of ourselves and exercise every day so I feel like all you can do is take care of yourself for the most part. I'm not really worried. I'm just doing what I can to stay healthy, and eating healthy and just trying to get my exercise in every day. Any year like flu season and stuff, I try to just go hard on exercising. I don't get sick that much is what I'm trying to get at so I try to stay on top of that," said Johnson.

Data from the Department of Public Health shows the cumulative positivity rate has increased from 9% to 10%.