COVID-19 Data Dispatch

Tag: demographic data

  • Five more things, February 20

    A few additional news items from this week:

    • Omicron has caused more U.S. COVID-19 deaths than Delta. Despite numerous headlines proclaiming the Omicron variant to be “milder” than previous versions of the coronavirus, this variant infected such a high number of Americans that it still caused more deaths than previous waves, a new analysis by the New York Times shows. Between the end of November and this past week, the U.S. has reported over 30 million new COVID-19 cases and over 154,000 new deaths, the NYT found, compared to 11 million cases and 132,000 deaths from August 1 through October 31 (a period covering the worst of the Delta surge).
    • 124 countries are not on target to meet COVID-19 vaccination targets. The World Health Organization (WHO) set a target for all countries worldwide to have 70% of their populations fully vaccinated by mid-2022. As we approach the deadline, analysts at Our World in Data estimated how many countries have already met or are on track to meet the goal. They found: 124 countries are not on track to fully vaccinate 70% of their populations, including the U.S., Russia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia, and other large nations.
    • Anime NYC was not an omicron superspreader event, CDC says. In early December, the Minnesota health department sounded the alarm about a Minnesotan whose COVID-19 case had been identified as Omicron—and who had recently traveled to New York City for the Anime NYC convention. The CDC investigated possible Omicron spread at this event, both by contact tracing the Minnesota case and by searching public health databases for cases connected to the event. Researchers found that this convention was not a superspreader for Omicron, despite what many feared; safety measures at the event likely played a role in preventing transmission, as did the convention’s timing at the very beginning of NYC’s Omicron wave. I covered the new findings for Science News.
    • Americans with lower socioeconomic status have more COVID-19 risk, new paper shows. Researchers at Brookings used large public databases to investigate the relationship between socioeconomic status and the risk of COVID-19 infections or death from the disease. Their paper, published this month in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, found that education and income are major drivers of COVID-19 risk, as are race and ethnicity. The researchers also found that: “ socioeconomic status is not related to preventative behavior like mask use but is related to occupation-related exposure, which puts lower-socioeconomic-status households at risk.” 
    • The federal government has failed to disclose how much taxpayers are spending for “free” COVID-19 tests. One month into the Biden administration’s distribution of free at-home COVID-19 tests to Americans who request them, millions have received those tests. But the government has not shared how much it spent for the tests, making it difficult for journalists and researchers to determine how much taxpayer money was paid for each testing kit. “The reluctance to share pricing details flies against basic notions of cost control and accountability,” writes KHN reporter Christine Spolar in an article about this issue. The government has also failed to share details about who requested these free tests or when they were delivered, making it difficult to evaluate how equitable this distribution has been.

    Note: this title and format are inspired by Rob Meyer’s Weekly Planet newsletter.

  • As COVID-19 precautions are lifted, who remains vulnerable?

    As COVID-19 precautions are lifted, who remains vulnerable?

    Hispanic, Black, and Native Americans are less likely to have received their booster shots than white Americans, according to CDC data.

    As more states and other institutions lift COVID-19 safety measures, the shift has sparked a conversation about who remains most vulnerable to COVID-19 during this period. I wanted to highlight a few of these vulnerable groups:

    • Seniors who remain unvaccinated or unboosted: “No other basic fact of life matters as dramatically as age for COVID,” writes Sarah Zhang in The Atlantic this week. Zhang’s story argues that the U.S. has not actually pushed to vaccinate elderly Americans with the same focus that other wealthy nations have. More than 10% of Americans over age 65 are not fully vaccinated and about one-third of those seniors who are fully vaccinated have not received their booster shots, according to CDC data. These seniors face higher COVID-19 risk than younger adults who are entirely unvaccinated, Zhang writes.
    • People of color who remain unvaccinated or unboosted: Zhang’s article inspired me to also look at recent vaccination trends by race and ethnicity. Black, Hispanic, and Native Americans have been at higher risk for COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, as their minority identities often coincide with lower socioeconomic status. According to CDC data, booster shot trends are similar to the vaccination trends we saw in early 2021: while 55% of eligible white Americans have received their booster shots, that number is below 50% for Black, Hispanic, and Native Americans. It’s lowest for Hispanic or Latino Americans: only 39% of those eligible have received a booster shot, as of February 19.
    • Immunocompromised people: If you haven’t yet read Ed Yong’s latest feature, about how America’s pandemic response has left immunocompromised people behind, drop everything and read it today. About 3% of U.S. adults take immunosuppressive drugs, while others live with diseases like AIDS that impact their immune systems. “In the past, immunocompromised people lived with their higher risk of infection, but COVID represents a new threat that, for many, has further jeopardized their ability to be part of the world,” Yong writes. Several other articles this week have also highlighted the challenges immunocompromised Americans face at this point in the pandemic.
    • Pregnant people: According to CDC data, about 68% of pregnant people ages 18 to 49 are fully vaccinated, as of February 12. That leaves almost one-third of pregnant Americans who are not fully vaccinated. Studies have found that pregnant people infected with the coronavirus are at higher risk for complications during their pregnancies and other severe outcomes. Plus, a new CDC study released this week found that a parent’s vaccination while pregnant greatly reduces an infant’s risk of being hospitalized for COVID-19, as antibodies produced by vaccination may be transferred from parent to child.
    • Children under age five: Of course, I have to mention the one group of Americans that is still not yet eligible for vaccination: children under age five. As parents of these kids have dealt with a confusing back-and-forth from Pfizer and the FDA on when vaccines might be available, many are facing high stress levels and remaining cautious even while schools and other institutions reduce safety measures.

    More vaccination data

  • Help advocate for better COVID-19 demographic data

    The COVID Racial Data Tracker, a collaboration between the COVID Tracking Project and the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, collects COVID-19 race and ethnicity data from 49 states and the District of Columbia. We compile national statistics and compare how different populations are being impacted across the country.

    But there are a lot of gaps in our dataset. We can only report what the states report, and many states have issues: for example, 93% of cases in Texas do not have any reported demographic information, and West Virginia has not reported deaths by race since May 20.

    A new form on the COVID Tracking Project website allows you to help us advocate for better quality data. Simply select your state, then use the contact information and suggested script to get in touch with your governor. States with specific data issues (such as Texas and West Virginia) have customized scripts explaining those problems.

    If you try this out for your state, please use the bottom of the form to let us know how it went!

    MORE STATE DATA