Wagga doctors are urging caution among under-30s as young people continue to represent the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District
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People aged between 20 and 29-years-old make up 14 of a total 42 recorded cases of COVID-19 in the region.
In comparison, the demographic groups with the second highest number of cases are the 60-69 and 70-79 brackets, which each have nine confirmed cases.
MLHD executive director of medical services Len Bruce said doctors were concerned about the large number of younger Australians who had contracted the virus.
"It's probably related to their social activities ... 20-year-olds are more outgoing and they're more likely to congregate in areas where social distancing is difficult," Dr Bruce said.
Even if young people do not become seriously ill from the virus, he said, they could transmit it to more vulnerable community members with "devastating consequences".
Wagga doctor Nick Stephenson, who acts as chairman of the Riverina Medical Specialist Recruitment and Retention Committee, said young people in the region needed to be careful.
"We've got to get the message out to that demographic ... because not only are they potentially putting themselves at risk but they're potentially putting the whole community at risk," Dr Stephenson said.
"And when I say at risk I mean not only of infection but also the economic impacts of the government measures. Because that's the thing ... all of us are feeling the economic impacts."
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Dr Stephenson urged people aged 20-29 to heed official public health advice to maintain social distancing and "not only protect themselves, but also protect others from themselves".
"The more the virus spreads in the community the more the government is going to have to crack down and the greater the economic impact on all of us," he said.
Dr Stephenson said young people would be feeling the effect of the government's emergency spending measures for years to come.
"[They] are the ones who are going to have to pay off all the government spending that's been necessary to help ameliorate the economic impacts of the control measure. So it is very serious for them not only in terms of the virus ... They will be wearing the economic costs of this for some time," he said.
Dr Bruce said it was "a fallacy" to think young people couldn't die from COVID-19, or that it was akin to the common flu.
"I think it's a very dangerous assumption that when you're young you're bulletproof and you cannot die - that is a big mistake," he said.
"They need to make sure they protect themselves. And by protecting themselves, they are protecting their loved ones as well."
