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In Massachusetts, coronavirus variants appear to be hitting younger people more seriously than earlier strains of the disease last year, with an increasing number of residents in their 20s-50s hospitalized, Gov. Charlie Baker said during a press conference on Monday.

While the risk of COVID-19 related death among young populations remains lower than among older age groups, Baliga reported that there are still some young patients who are succumbing to the virus, which he calls a “preventable disease” with vaccines, he said.

To date, over 86,000 Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 have died due to COVID-19, accounting for approximately 19.4% of the U.S. virus-related death toll.

Younger people, in particular, can harbor the feeling that they are less vulnerable to the disease than the more at-risk older adults, Sauer said, but they shouldn't assume that they are “safe from this disease.”

“Our best way out of this pandemic is to get vaccinated,\" Sharff said. \"We are all so exhausted, myself included, but like when you see young people in the hospital dying, you just have to kind of face it head-on and say this is real. We have got to get vaccinated.\"

ABC News' Brian Hartman contributed to this report.

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