It is good every now and then to remind everyone how bifurcated the outcomes from this epidemic are. These charts from Dave Dixon show the cumulative spread of tests, cases, hospitalizations and deaths across age groups. You will see how concentrated testing and cases are in younger groups, driven partly by truly dumb school testing policies. But in terms of serious disease, especially deaths, it is all about the elderly. There hasn’t been much change in this chart over time (another post coming on this). So if you looked at these charts, what would it tell you about the appropriate public health reponse?
I’ve been looking at this same info graphed in the DoH summary every week since they started reporting it on May 14, 2020, and I completely agree with your question: what would it tell you about the appropriate public health response?
I think these stats are pretty amazing and ought to be front and center in the public’s eye for making decisions about where we ought to focus our attention.
Go to page 22 (typically) in the weekly summary reports linked at https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/stats/index.html