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Age Structure Charts, December 24

By December 27, 2021Commentary

Our usual set of charts by age group, Dave’s notes below:

1. There are 2 slides for each set of data, one showing data for the whole pandemic and a second chart showing only data since early July, 2021. Note that the full pandemic slides have different start dates, because Minnesota Department started publishing different data on different dates.

2.  The data for the charts on testing, hospital admissions, and deaths comes from the Minnesota Weekly Report (available here: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/stats/index.html). The data in the Weekly Report is presented as cumulative totals for each data type each week. I am taking weekly differences and assembling the data into charts. This data is by date of report, meaning the charts are documenting new events reported this week, even though the underlying event occurred sometime in the past. The data is provided for 5 year age groups, and I am assembling into 10 year age groups to make the charts more readable.

3. The data for the Covid cases per week come from a data file published along with the Minnesota Weekly Report, here: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/stats/index.html#wagscd1  This data is published by date of specimen collection, rather than by date of report as the other data is. The data is provided as cases per week in 5 year age groups. I am compiling the data into 10 year age groups in order for the charts to be more readable.

4. Fig. 1 and 2: Covid Tests Per Week.  It is hard to make much of the testing data. There are repeated instances of sharp changes week to week that do not bear much resemblance to the overall data displayed on the Minnesota Covid Dashboard https://mn.gov/covid19/data/response-prep/public-health-risk-measures.jsp .

5. Fig. 3 and 4: Covid Cases Per Week.  The Covid cases per week were generally lower this week for all age groups, except 20-29 and 30-39 which were very nearly unchanged for the week. Without trustworthy testing data it is hard to know if the cases in the 20-29 and 30-39 age groups are due to actual higher cases, or more a symptom of higher testing rates.  Total cases for the week were reported as 20,205, a decrease of 10.3% from last week’s total.

6. Fig. 5 and 6: ICU Admissions Per Week.  ICU admissions were a bit mixed again this week, with increases in admissions for the 50-59, 60-69, and 70-79 age groups offset by a large reduction in the 60-69 age group. The highest admissions for the week were in the 50-59 age group. Somewhat surprisingly there were only 10 reported admissions for the 80 and Over age group, despite the fact that this group continues to have the highest number of deaths.  The young age groups continue to have very low Covid ICU admissions, with only 2 admissions in the 0-9 age group, 1 in the 10-19 age group, and 6 in the 20-29 age group.  Total ICU admissions for the week were 195, little changed from between 197 and 199 the prior three weeks.

7.  Fig. 7 and 8: Non-ICU Admissions Per Week.  Non-ICU admissions were down sharply for all age groups 40 years old and older. 30-39 admissions were only slightly lower.  The younger age groups continue to have lower admissions. The 0-9 age group had 17 admissions, the 10-19 age group had 16 admissions, and the 20-29 age group was a little higher at 56, but still within the range of recent weeks.   Total Non-ICU Covid admissions for the week were 826, a decrease of 192 admissions from the 1018 admissions last week, and down 307 from 2 weeks ago.

8.  Fig. 9 and 10: Deaths Per Week.  Total reported deaths for the week were 249, a small increase from 246 reported deaths the week before. The 80+ age group continues to experience the most deaths, increasing from 83 to 91 deaths reported for the week. All other groups were little changed from the prior week.

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