Young people generally handle COVID-19 better than the elderly in terms of its health impact.
However, research shows that more than half of South African students have experienced some sort of psychological distress.
In fact, it shows that more than 65% of students experienced mild to severe psychological distress during their academic year last year.
The findings are contained in a report titled: the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth in the post-school education and training sector in South Africa.
CEO of Higher Health, Professor Ramneek Ahluwalia says: “I think this research brings into light that youth plays a very central role in the whole configuration of the COVID-19 pandemic. And why I say so is predominately because youth are the carriers of this virus. The virus does not differentiate between an old person or a poor person as long as you are a human body it would like to move from one person to the other. But young people because they like to congregate they are mildly symptomatic, some are even asymptomatic, they can carry the virus very quickly.”
