Health experts are warning that young people of color face a growing threat from the coronavirus pandemic as young Americans drive record-setting outbreaks in several US states. Data from the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) has shown the majority of coronavirus hospitalizations among Black and Latino Americans are of those under the age of 50. “The risk is multifold because young people are more often susceptible to the same conditions that increase the risk of exposure, including working on the frontlines,” said Dr Mary T Bassett, director of the Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and New York City’s former health commissioner. Bassett, along with researchers Jarvis Chen and Nancy Krieger, released a working paper exposing the “magnitude of mortality inequities” in young adults, which she said was “a missing part of the conversation about racial disparities”. As cases of the coronavirus increase in more than 30 US states, young people of color face disproportionate risk. CDC officials caution that because young adults are often asymptomatic, they can easily spread the virus to the immune-compromised or elderly, a danger for minorities who are more likely to live in multigenerational homes. When factoring in age, an analysis by the Brookings Institution found that the death rate for Black Americans is 3.6 times, and for Latinos 2.5 times, higher than white Americans. Among those aged 35 to 44, African Americans and Latinos have a mortality rate nearly 10 times higher. Overall, Americans of color face a disproportionate risk of exposure to the coronavirus, in part because they are concentrated in densely populated areas, and work in industries deemed essential such as healthcare, factories and transportation. Existing inequality only adds to the problem. Black and Latino Americans are more likely to lack health insurance and live in medically underserved communities, a probable factor for why Black Americans today make up nearly a third of all coronavirus cases and deaths. Advocates say framing all young people as less susceptible to the outbreak is misleading and ignores the increased and disproportionate risks faced by younger people of color. “This pattern with young adults can’t be explained by pre-existing conditions alone,” Bassett said. “They cannot explained a ninefold difference in mortality rate.” Health professionals pinpoint relaxed stay-at-home orders, part of state efforts to reopen businesses and stimulate the economy. With most colleges closed and summer events cancelled, many young people have disregarded CDC guidelines recommending face masks and social distancing in favor of bars, beaches and large social gatherings, contributing to recent rises in infections. In a House energy and commerce committee hearing in earlier this month, Dr Anthony Fauci, a member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus taskforce, blamed the response by young people on “a lack of appreciation” for the science. “Thinking that young people have no deleterious consequences is not true. We’re seeing more and more complications,” he said. Some states, including Texas, Florida, Arizona and California, have dialed back their reopening efforts, with governors signing executive orders closing bars, limiting restaurants or requiring masks. On Friday, Mike Pence urged young Americans to take the virus more seriously. “Young people have a particular responsibility to make sure that they’re not carrying the coronavirus into settings where they would expose the most vulnerable,” the vice-president said at the first coronavirus briefing in nearly two months.