Lisa Miller, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Calculating your risk of death or hospitalization if you are infected with the coronavirus requires good data – notably, the total number of infections in the US. Unfortunately, that data is fuzzy.
Zoë McLaren, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
COVID-19 cases are skyrocketing across the US. Testing has ramped up over the past few months, but increasing hospitalizations, deaths and test-positivity rates show that the virus is out of control.
Monica Gandhi, University of California, San Francisco
Death rates for hospitalized COVID-19 patients fell from 25.6% in March to 7.6% in August, according to a new study on three hospitals in New York. A study in the UK found similar results.
Some have suggested the US allow healthy people to return to normal life, catch the coronavirus and get the population to herd immunity. The science says this plan is doomed to fail from the start.
Health statisticians keep careful tabs on how many people die every week. Based on what’s happened in past years, they know what to expect – but 2020 death counts are surging beyond predictions.
Using random testing, researchers in Indiana were able to calculate death rates by age, race, and sex and found sharp increases in risk of death among older and non-white state residents.
Health statisticians keep careful tabs on how many people die every week. Based on what’s happened in past years, they know what to expect – but 2020 death counts are surging beyond predictions.
A team of researchers from Indiana University performed random testing for SARS-CoV-2 across the state. The results offer some of the most accurate data to date about important aspects of the virus.
The percentage of people who die from a coronavirus infection is an important number for public health experts to know. Recent estimates now put it at 0.65%, far lower than initially thought.
Klaus W. Larres, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Germans are struggling like the rest of the world with the coronavirus. And while Germans have a strong safety net and medical system, one thing may fall victim to the virus: relations with the US.