(WXYZ) — Michigan is seeing a surge of COVID-19 cases, and according to the state, younger people are fueling that massive surge.
As of Monday, there are 692,206 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, but two age groups account for more than 1/3 of the total cases.
Related: MAP: COVID-19 variants confirmed across Michigan counties
The state's data shows that people between the ages of 20-29 and 30-39 make up 34.2% of the total cases. There have been 131,235 cases of COVID-19 among those people between the ages of 20-29 and 105,603 between the ages of 30-39.
The 20-29 age group has the largest number of cases for any age group, and 30-39 has the third-largest, just behind the 50-59 age group.
While the virus originally targeted people who were older, those numbers have changed since summer when the 20-29 age group took over with the most number of cases.
Hospitalizations among young people have spiked, too.
Beaumont Physician Dr. Justin Skrzynski says since early February, the number of COVID-19 patients has tripled at Beaumont Royal Oak, with a shift to a different age group.
"Right now, we are seeing a much younger population coming in, and by younger we mean maybe 40s, 50s as opposed to 60s or 70s that we were seeing previously," he said.
People in the younger age groups are the last to get vaccinated, and on Monday, anyone 16+ became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Previously, only people between the ages of 16-49 were eligible if they had a health condition that made them more vulnerable to illness from the virus.
As of April 5, only 31,679 people between the ages of 16-19 and 201,494 of people between 20-29 have had their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered by age group in Michigan as of April 5
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