Arizonans under 20 years old lead all other age groups the daily average per capita rate of COVID-19 cases for only the fifth time since the pandemic reporting began back in March of 2020, according to numbers released by the Arizona Department of Health Services and analyzed by ABC15.
In 535 days of COVID-19 reporting from the department of health, the rate of COVID-19 cases for the “Under 20” age category has only topped all other age categories five times: September 20 through 22 of last year and the past two days.
This is a rare position for the age category to be in since they have had the lowest per capita rate of any age category for just under half of the reporting days since reporting began on March 4, 2020.
The top per capita rate for COVID-19 average daily cases typically is Arizonans 20 to 44, which are the highest category for 83% of the reporting days of the pandemic.
The average daily share of COVID-19 cases for under 20 years old has been rising steadily since June 27.
At the time they made up 1 out of every 5 COVID-19 cases reported.
Today, they are near 1 of 3.
In September of last year, the rapid rise in cases for younger individuals came shortly after the fall semester opening of both Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. Since the UArizona fall semester does not start until August 24 and ASU began welcoming students today, neither university has been a major contributor to the numbers.
It is unclear how long cases will continue to stay high for younger Arizonans.
At the time, the category took 29 reporting days to rise from last to first and only 11 days to fall back down to fifth. Due to higher vaccination rates among older Arizonans, the rise in case rates has been slower and steadier in 2021, taking 148 days to get to the top.
The vaccination rate for Arizonans under 20 is much lower than other age groups at 17.9%, but this is expected as people under 12 are not eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
The animated chart below shows the COVID-19 per capita case rates by age category from August of 2021 to today.
