COVID-19 deaths are rising in Yucatán, and the victims are getting younger.
In the last seven days, 69 coronavirus patients died. Where pandemic fatalities previously skewed much older, a quarter of more recent deaths were in the under-40 age group, Yucatán health officials said.
The governor had previously warned that new infections were increasingly found in younger people. While being under 40 increases your chances of weathering the virus, youth does not guarantee survival, health ministry statistics show.
June 17 fatalities included two in their 30s. Three more people in that age group perished over the next two days. Sunday saw the death of a 23-year-old patient, and on Monday, a 24-year-old died along with two in their late 30s.
On Tuesday, 10 patients who died included a 35-year-old and a 39-year-old. On Wednesday, another 11 died including a 22-year-old man and three who were only 35.
Meanwhile, new vaccine shipments arrived in Mérida on Wednesday, just as residents in their 30s were invited to register online for inoculations.
Vaccinations began with elderly residents, with the campaign eventually reaching residents in their 40s and 50s. Mérida residents in the latter age group get their second vaccinations this week.
Gov. Mauricio Vila Dosal, 41, received his first coronavirus vaccine Wednesday at the Yucatán Siglo XXI Convention Center. The governor contracted a mild case of COVID-19 last fall.
The governor appeared to make a point of waiting his turn in line after arriving days earlier when the vaccine supply had run out.
Daily new infections have topped 200 a day in Yucatán since June 10. That rate had been well under 100 for the better part of May.
Wednesday hospitalizations rose by one to hit 311 while home quarantines rose by 12, with 2,089 patients recovering in private.
