More younger Georgians have died of COVID-19 since July than first 15 months of pandemic

ATLANTA — More younger Georgians have died of COVID-19 in the last five months than in the entire previous 15 months of the pandemic, data shows.

A total of 1,853 Georgians ages 54 and younger have died of the virus since the highly-transmissible delta variant swept through starting in July. That’s compared to just 1,468 in that age group who died from March 2020 to June 2021.

In people ages 22 and younger, 70% of COVID-19 deaths have been reported since July. In people 34 years old and younger, nearly 57% of COVID-19 deaths have been reported since July.

In people 55 and younger, 56% of the total COVID-19 deaths have been reported since July.

The vast majority of Georgians who have died of COVID-19 are ages 55 and older (21,937). But in that age group, only 15% of the total deaths from the virus have been reported since July.

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Vaccines have been available to all Georgians ages 16 and above since March of 2021, but just 50% of the population is fully vaccinated.

Of the 13,369 COVID-19 deaths reported this year in Georgia, 12,310 of them were among unvaccinated people.

The vast majority of vaccinated people who died were ages 55 and older. Only 62 people who were fully vaccinated and died of the virus were younger than 55.

According to the Georgia Department of Health, people who were unvaccinated in September were 5.4 times more likely to die from COVID-19 and 4.8 times more likely to contract the virus.