Why young Americans have started spreading coronavirus?

When coronavirus started to spread, it was more a disease that the elderly had to be worried about, but in the recent past, infected age has reduced drastically showing an increasing number of youngsters getting infected.

In most places in America, median age of all coronavirus infected people have gone down from 65 to mid-30s. This drop in age of the ones getting infected is a cause of worry as younger people have shown tendency to be asymptomatic carriers, posing a threat to elderly, in their homes and communities. This drop in median age is also due to the fact that when infection started, testing was limited to those who were hospitalized, testing has since been increased to others as well. This realization has led to authorities getting active and trying to close down all those places where younger age population hangs out like bars, night clubs, party hot spots etc. 

Most of the youngsters started coming out in the wake of the George Floyd's death due to choking by a white policeman in Minneapolis. Post that, there seems to be no stopping for the younger lot who at the start of the spread were specifically asked to stay indoors so they don't act as an asymptomatic carrier of this deadly virus and infect their elders. With the state wide reopening, there seems to be no way the crowd is going to go stay indoors again. Some analysts and government officials say, they reopened too soon. 

Much of the social gathering among youngsters is been attributed to the pent-up craving that they were feeling when under lockdown. Once they got the chance to come out, they grabbed it with both hands. They are just taking out their pent-up urge of socializing. When you are young and brash, you don't think too much about the consequences and think either you won't catch the virus or if you do, it would be fine. 

Bars have been a specially infecting source. Over roughly two weeks in June, 614 people in the county tested positive, almost half of them from the ages of 18-25. Of those cases, 132 people traced the infection to bars. Gathering in bars is a particular concern because groups of people mix with each other, it is a loud place where to interact people have to speak louder, exerting more pressure on their lungs causing higher and faster spread of the virus. Alcohol impairs judgement and this causes the tracking and tracing process to break down as people don't usually remember who they were in close proximity with while getting drunk.

America has always been known as a country which is high on steroids. Youngsters also understand their chance of infection might be high but they are not as vulnerable to serious conditions like the elderly. This virus might infect them, but they are willing to take their chances. Their need for social acceptance is much higher on the priority ladder than the risk of getting infected. While elderly and parents have been trying to keep their children and younger members of the family indoors, it has not been easy.

While the sudden rise in infection levels among the young age groups have caused concerns in some quarters, the other bunch seems to be enthused about it, arguing the case for herd immunity and unless people go out and socialize, we might not develop herd immunity. Their argument remains that a significant population, especially the young, needs to get infected for the country to have any chance of developing herd immunity. While the argument makes sense and considering the fact that lockdown hasn't really helped in achieving the desired result it was intending to, the case for people socializing and developing herd immunity seems to be the next best idea.

Conclusion:

Young Americans have been itching to get out since the lockdown was imposed. The time since the lockdown was eased, they have been participating in protests after George Floyd's death and coming out to party and socializing. They don't seem much bothered about the deadly coronavirus pandemic and their chances of getting infected without social distancing. Much of this is due to the realization that the virus isn't as lethal to youngsters as to the elderly and also their pent-up need to go out and meet friends and hang out with them have never been so high. While some sections of the society have been raising concerns regarding this sudden spike in the rise of infected people in the younger population, there is another section who believes it is a good sign that the young and getting infected in larger numbers, since this is their only chance of developing herd immunity.