Young adults, unfairly blamed for COVID-19 spread, now face stress and uncertain futures

published on November 29, 2020 by Rod Knight, Marie Jauffret-Roustide, Naseeb Bolduc, and Pierre-julien Coulaud in The Conversation

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic there was an enormous amount of concern and attention focused on elderly people — and for good reason: people over the age of 65 years are among the most vulnerable to serious health complications, including death, from the virus.

It did not take long, however, for significant media and public health attention to turn towards young adults, with most of these depictions framing young people as “spreaders of the virus” and as largely responsible for the second wave of COVID-19. These representations frame young adults as being careless, irresponsible and dismissive of COVID-19 risks and public health guidance measures.

As social scientists working in two international settings — Canada and France — we are deeply concerned that these kinds of depictions have distorted the actual experiences, practices and attitudes of young adults towards COVID-19, and created flawed perceptions of the true impact of the pandemic on young adults…