Who’s In Most Danger From COVID-19?

Everyone’s favorite publication, the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, has some new data on COVID-19 incidence in the United States. Here’s the basic breakdown by age:

This is new. It suggests that the incidence of COVID-19 is roughly the same all the way from age 20 to age 79. I wonder what this would look like if you removed nursing home deaths, which are surely a big part of the incidence among those over age 80.

The CDC also reported on the death rate among those with underlying conditions, primarily heart disease, diabetes, and chronic lung disease:

Among middle-aged patients, those with underlying conditions have a far higher mortality rate. The total incidence of COVID-19 is low among 30-40 year olds, for example, but those who get it are a whopping 150x more likely to die if they have an underlying condition. For all age groups combined, the death rate for those with underlying conditions is 12x higher than those without underlying conditions.

And there’s yet another confirmation that COVID-19 has hit people of color far more heavily than white people:

The incidence of COVID-19 among non-white populations is nearly 3x that of the white population.

POSTSCRIPT: I sure hope I have all this right. The CDC reports this data in a cumbersome way and I had to convert from hospitalizations to the whole population. I’m pretty sure I did it all correctly, but if anyone notices an error, please let me know.

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