It's not easy being young. COVID-19 in young people has been driving case counts in Canada for a number of weeks now. Older populations no longer make up the majority of the country's cases, it's the younger age groups now.
New data and modelling that was released by the Public Health Agency of Canada shows how the virus has impacted different age groups.
It even shines a spotlight on what's going on among the younger population across the country.
The highest incidences of COVID-19 in recent weeks are among people between 20 and 39 years old.
That's actually been going on since the beginning of July.
"Although severe illness is less common in younger individuals, they're not immune to severe outcomes," Dr. Theresa Tam said during a press conference on August 14.
So, young people can't count on their age to protect them from the harsher complications of COVID-19.
Surges in cases are expected to happen as we continue on through the pandemic but it's important to limit the size of those increases.
"Transmission in any age group builds a reservoir for the virus that threatens our ability to maintain epidemic control," Dr. Tam said.
Public Health Agency of Canada
Even though people between 20 and 39 years old have the highest amounts of COVID-19 cases recently there is still some good news.
Across all age groups, that has started to decline again in the past few weeks.
We're not out of the woods just yet.
Based on statistics from the government, people aged 20 to 39 account for 35,006 cases of the virus in Canada or about 30%.
People aged 70 or older, which are often considered the hardest hit population, account for 26,857 cases or about 23%.
Dr. Tam urged the younger population in Canada, or "those who live with their phones", to download the COVID Alert app.
She said that people in this age group tend to go into social situations like bars and nightclubs where they might not know every single possible point of contact in there.
Just under half of the new COVID-19 cases in Canada on August 12 were in B.C. and Alberta.
B.C. is cracking down on parties to try and curb the recent uptick in cases.