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It's over two years into the pandemic, and we're still seeing COVID numbers rise in the U.S. In just the last week alone, there has been a 31 percent increase in infections and a 17.5 percent rise in hospitalizations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And while the death rate has yet to spike during this recent uptick, the news on that front is far from comforting. On May 12, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. was approaching a "tragic milestone" in the course of the COVID pandemic: one million deaths. To prevent even more casualties, virus experts have a new warning specifically targeted at people over the age of 50. Read on to find out what doctors and health officials are now saying.

Lea esto a continuación:Top Virus Expert Just Issued This Urgent Warning to All Vaccinated People.

While some people experience few to no symptoms when infected with COVID, not everyone is as lucky. According to the CDC, older adults are more likely to have their infection turn severe. "The risk increases for people in their 50s and increases in 60s, 70s, and 80s," the agency explains. "People 85 and older are the most likely to get very sick."AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

Once you turn 50, you have a higher chance of needing hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help you breathe if you do catch COVID. The latest data from the CDC shows that compared to younger adults between the ages of 18 and 29, people over the age of 50 are three times as likely to be hospitalized and 25 times more likely to die as a result of the coronavirus. As of May 11, more than930,000 COVID deaths in the U.S. have been attributed to those 50 and older.

Vaccines have helped curtail the number of fatalities from the coronavirus, with the majority of COVID deaths occurring among unvaccinated people throughout the pandemic. Recently, however, the rate of vaccinated people dying from breakthrough infections has risen, according to an analysis of state and federal data from The Washington Post. The newspaper reported that vaccinated people made up 42 percent of the total fatalities in Jan. and Feb. 2022 when Omicron was surging, compared to just 23 percent in Sept. 2021.

The biggest factor in this concerning rise is the number of deaths among older vaccinated individuals. Nearly two-thirds of the people who died during Omicron's surge were 75 and older, per The Washington Post. And as of April, people over the age of 5o are still making up the majority of fatalities. De acuerdo aThe Washington Post, 34 percent of COVID deaths right now are among people ages 50 to 75, and 63 percent are among those 75 and older. In comparison, people under the age of 50 account for just 3 percent of the share.

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La mayoría dethe rising vaccinated deaths are among people who have not gotten a booster shot, according to The Washington Post. In two of the states analyzed—California and Mississippi—researchers for the newspaper found that three-quarters of the older vaccinated adults who died from COVID in January and February had not gotten any booster doses.

Research has shown that a third shot can help waning immunity from initial vaccine doses, particularly benefiting older adults more at risk of severe COVID most, according to CNN. A study from the CDC found that a booster shot was able to raise vaccine effectiveness during Omicron's surge to 90 percent against COVID-related hospitalizations, two weeks after the third dose. In comparison, two doses were just 57 percent effective for those who received their last COVID shot around 6 months prior.

"What we really should be worried about is getting the boosters that we need to stay up to date so with the new variants that we have, we don't have unnecessary deaths and hospitalizations, "Robert Califf, MD, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), told CNN. With these up-to-date vaccinations, "almost no one in this country should be dying from COVID," he added.

Given the waning of immunity from vaccines and the impact of boosters, the CDC and the FDA have already authorized a second booster for adults 50 years and older who got their last shot al menos cuatro meses antes. Pero a pesar de esto y el impulso urgente para dosis adicionales, ha habido una desaceleración significativa en la tasa de que los adultos mayores obtienen refuerzos. Según los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades,más del 32 por ciento De la población elegible para refuerzo, 65 años o más aún no se han impulsado.

"Es un poco preocupante. Dado que esto es elpoblación de mayor riesgo, es exactamente la población que debería ser impulsada, pero no la está recibiendo, y creo que la razón es que lo hicimos más difícil de lo que era necesario ",David Grabowski, PhD, profesor de política de salud en la Facultad de Medicina de Harvard, dijo a The Hill.

Más de 350,000 adultos mayoresresidiendo en hogares de ancianos En todo Estados Unidos ni siquiera ha recibido una primera dosis de refuerzo de Coronavirus, según un análisis reciente de la Asociación Americana de Personas Retiradas (AARP). Entre las poblaciones mayores, la cobertura de refuerzo "no es donde debería estar",Ari Houser, Asesor Senior de Métodos en el AARP Public Policy Institute y coautor del análisis, dijo en un comunicado. En ciertos estados, como Arizona, Florida y Nevada, las primeras tasas de refuerzo entre los residentes de hogares de ancianos son solo alrededor del 55 por ciento.

"Sabemos que los refuerzos funcionan. Asegurémonos de poner esto en tantos brazos como sea posible, especialmente entre los que tienen un mayor riesgo", dijo Grabowski.

Lea esto a continuación:Los refuerzos no lo protegerán contra Omicron si ha hecho esto, el estudio encuentra.