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One out of three people diagnosed with coronavirus in Massachusetts is under 40
By adamg on Mon, 03/23/2020 - 10:46pm
Number of diagnosed cases by age group, based on Mass. DPH data from 3/23.
Today's Covid-19 numbers from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health show that 34% of the diagnosed cases in the state are in people under 40.
On the one hand, the figures are a bit meaningless in the greater scheme of things, since federal screwups mean so few people have gotten tested here. On the other hand, however, shortages of test kits means that the only people getting tested in Massachusetts are people who either show some significant symptoms or who have been in direct contact with other diagnosed people, such as Biogen managers at that infamous meeting.
In total, the state has confirmed 777 Covid-19 cases, with 9 deaths. In Boston, the Boston Public Health Commission reports 133 cases here, with 2 deaths.
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Comments
Suffolk vs. Middlesex counts
Those are going to flip within the week I'd assume. I guess we know where most Biogen employees live based on the high count for Middlesex, right?
For reference, the median age
For reference, the median age in Massachusetts is under 40 too.
context
Thank you for the context. You see so many of these numbers and statistics thrown around without any context at all, and the only thing they end up doing is causing anxiety.
Without context I read this to think "uh oh maybe there is another strain and young adults are actually really vulnerable."
With context it seems to just be logical.
It's logical, but given that
It's logical, but given that most tests have gone to people showing symptoms, this data does counter the (dangerous) assumption that younger people aren't affected.
17th Highest Median Age
We are no longer one of the oldest states.
The important thing to remember is that this virus can and does kill younger people, but older people are infected by the younger people. They are far more likely to need hospital and ICU support or die.
Our northern neighbors also top the list for median age, which is also something to consider: what builds here may have serious consequences if people continue to travel around even a limited geographic area.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_med...
With so few people being tested
does this data even mean anything?
It's like when a paper polls 300 random people who still have (and answer) landlines and somehow extrapolate that to be the consensus of a country of 300+ million.
How about shutting off the innuendo
You wrote
The first part is true -- the figures are meaningless in the global scheme -- as we make up an insignificant portion of: Positive tests, Active Cases, Hospitalizations, ICU status, fatal outcomes.
However it has nothing to do with "federal screwups" -- it has to do that outside of a brief period surrounding the Biogen meeting that Massachusetts is not so important a nucleus for the COVID-19 infection as we might want to be? For what ever strange to perverse reason?
The second comment about the availability of the test is plain innuendo -- the tests are given based on criteria established by the CDC which prioritize the test based on symptoms and contacts.*2
Finally -- the results of the test are still showing 2 things:
Most people [-- up to 90+ % of the people showing symptoms or meeting the other criterion for having the test] -- TEST Negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus [the active agent of the COVID-19 infection which is what is being detected in the tests].*4 They just might have the ordinary everyday Seasonal Flu or something else [Bronchitis?]. Both of which [Flu and Bronchitis] are actually more deadly -- killing more people than the COVID-19 so far.*5
Vast Majority of the people who Test Positive Will Recover Completely -- most of them without any medical intervention except what you can buy over-the-counter in a Drug Store
The Bottom Line:
the COVID-19 is a serious matter -- although for us here in MA -- there is no reason to panic
The MA Capsule summary*4 puts it into perspective:
You feel bad and talk to your Doc -- unknown number
Recommend that you go to the clinic to be tested because you have symptoms [or other reason] -- perhaps 1/4?
You go to some designated point to be tested:
Let's stick to discussing facts and policies -- leave the rest for active debate afterwards in the Sam Adams Tap Room!
Finally:
Here's some more data for those of you yearning for it.
One week ago -- after the Biogen Meeting cases started to show up -- MA was near the top [4th] in overall positive tests with 197 while NY was already at 1700. As of the most recent data [yesterday or today] we had 777 positive test cases*1,3 by comparison the top 13 + NYC*3 -- today are*1:
Reference Sources
[with my highlights in BOLD]
*1
this is only the number of cases which have tested positive and been reported to and by the CDC - -there are likely to be substantially more cases of low intensity and perhaps even asymptomatic nature which are unknown
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html
*2
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-criteria.html
*3
https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/imm/covid-19-daily-data-su...
*4
https://www.mass.gov/doc/covid-19-cases-in-massachusetts-as-of-march-23-...
*5
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm
Wait, innuendo implies I'm slyly, subtly saying something
So let me be blunter: The federal government under His Incompetence is to a great degree to blame for how this current crisis is unfolding.
He was told this virus was coming. He ignored that news (he also had previously dismantled the group in charge of pandemic planning, then, of course, because he is the lyingest liar who has ever held the office, lied about that).
His flunkies rejected a WHO test that worked in favor of one designed by the CDC that did not. And the FDA, which works with large test manufacturers regularly in a way the CDC does not, was not brought into the process.
He has repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic (remember when there were just 15 confirmed cases and he said that number would drop to 0? Or how about how he preferred to leave those people on the ship out at sea to keep the numbers low?).
Testing, as shown by the experience in South Korea is vital, not just to show the overall extent of the problem, but to find people who are infected but who may not know it so that they can be told to stay home and their contacts notified and tested.
But you can't test large numbers of people, which this would require, if you don't have the tests. So, yes, I blame him.
Another way this epidemic will kill people
Think about all the things that people are normally treated for in the ER:
Now think about what is going to happen when overburdened hospitals are unable to treat people for these things, and the true scale of the disaster begins to emerge.