Age Structure Charts, June 16

The weekly report is out on Thursdays and Dave updates his charts of the epidemic by event and ten year age groups.  In general we appear to be on the decline.  Case numbers are highly unreliable now because of home testing and mild infections.  Hospitalization numbers are unreliable because at least half are incidentals.  Death numbers have always been suspect because of the bizarre attribution method.

Dave’s notes:

1. Overall, Covid cases, ICU admissions, and deaths continue to drift lower, while Non-ICU admissions are rising.
2. Fig. 1 and 2: Covid Cases Per Week. The reported Covid cases this week are generally lower, except that the 20-29 and 40-49 age groups are higher for unknown reasons. In addition, the 70-79 age group has been almost constant for 3 weeks in a row while the other age groups are generally declining. Total reported cases for the week were 10,250 total for all age groups, down from 10,381 revised cases reported last week.
3. Fig. 3 and 4: ICU Covid Admissions Per Week. There were 51 reported Covid ICU admissions for the week, a decrease of 11 from the total of 62 admissions reported last week. The 70-79 age group was sharply higher, and the 50-59 and 10-19 age groups moderately higher, while the other age groups were lower.
4. Fig. 5 and 6: Non-ICU Covid Admissions Per Week. There were 431 reported total Covid non-ICU admissions for the week, up from 425 last week. The 70-79 age group was sharply lower and the 30-39 age group moderately lower, while the other groups were higher.
5. Fig. 7 and 8: Covid Deaths Per Week. There were 39 reported Covid deaths for the week, down from 52 reported deaths last week.  Deaths were lower in all age groups, except for a single death in the 20-29 age group.

Data Sources:

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. We are 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.

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. We are compiling the data into 10 year age groups in order for the charts to be more readable. This data is updated by date of specimen collection, so it is likely that the past week’s data will be updated.