Another excellent chart from Dave Dixon showing regional case levels throughout the epidemic. What is most noticeable is the synchronization during the epidemic and how close total case levels are across all regions.
Dave’s notes:
- US case data by state is taken from a CDC data base: https://data.cdc.gov/Case-Surveillance/United-States-COVID-19-Cases-and-Deaths-by-State-o/9mfq-cb36 , This database appears to be corrupted, especially for California, in early 2021. Therefore, all data for all states prior to 8/1/2021 is the version published by the CDC on 10/24/2021. All data starting 8/1/2021 is the most current available data, published by the CDC on 5/20/2022.
- State population estimates used to calculate rates per 100k are taken from the CDC data file nst-est2019-01.xlsx, available here: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2019/national-state-estimates.html
- Fig. 1: Covid cases per week per 100k by US Region. The Omicron wave, peaking in January 2022, is remarkably similar across each region.
- Fig. 2: Covid cases per week per 100k by US Region, starting 2/05/2022. The Northeast and Midwest regions appear to have peaked in the current wave. The West, Southeast, and Southwest are still increasing moderately.
- Fig. 3: Cumulative Covid cases per million per region.
Thanks for keeping up with the research. Any chance you’ll be able to cover the spikes in cases in places like Taiwan, where there are also now rising cases of infant/toddler deaths from SARS Covid-2 and encephalitis/ Kawasaki Disease/ MIS-C? We’ve had a zero-Covid policy here with masks required the moment we leave our houses, but it looks like we’re in for a wild ride with overcrowded hospitals anyway. Your take would be much appreciated.
I know that many of the Asian countries have seen increases in cases, I was not aware of the deaths in Taiwan. I do think that it will spread everywhere and the people who are vulnerable may die and have their deaths attributed to CV-19. I continue to not believe it is possible to suppress the virus. China is exhibit A–literally locking people in their houses. The virus has multiple reservoirs and long-term survivability, so sooner or later it will spread widely everywhere, literally everywhere. A country has to decide how much pain to inflict on itself in the name of deferring the inevitable.