The middle-age COVID-19 death rate is worse than thought.

A new global study of virus related deaths confirms what we already know; people older than 80 are much more likely to die from the disease with a 24-percent fatality rate.

But the research also finds death rates are higher than previously thought for healthy middle-aged adults, with an infection fatality rate of 0.3 percent for people between 50 and 59, and 1-percent for people aged 60 to 69.

For perspective, scientists write that a healthy 55 year old person is fifty times more likely to die with a COVID-19 infection than a car accident.

As for people between the ages of 70 and 79, they have a 4-percent fatality rate related to COVID-19.

The study was released by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research.