The Utah Department of Health has added new data on hospitalization and mortality for COVID-19 on its website, making it clear how much more dangerous the disease is to Utahns in older age groups.
Even adults in middle age, between 45 and 64, are hospitalized and killed by the virus at relatively high rates. 10 percent of the infected in that age group are hospitalized and about one in 108 dies.
Jump up to Utahns between 65 and 84 years old, and the rate of hospitalization and death spikes dramatically. One in four of those infected are hospitalized. One in 17 dies.
Among Utahns 85 and older, more than one in four dies. In fact, the death and hospitalization rates are nearly identical, which reflects the painful reality that many die in nursing homes where they already reside.