David Spiegelhalter is starting a column in The Guardian about COVID-19, the first installment being about excess death statistics. Arguing rightly that it is “fairer to look at what has happened to the total number of deaths”, since this is an objective quantity (in countries with trustworthy death statistics). The discussion on how many of the excess deaths can be attributed to the pandemic is somewhat confusing, though, as little can be said with enough confidence, between the positive impact (flu deaths have plummeted, 30% less traffic deaths in France, &tc.) and the negative impact (stress, harsher economic or social conditions, &tc.) A worthy warning: the deficit in “other” deaths during the second wave is partly due to the extra deaths during the first wave, esp. for fragile and elderly persons.
Archive for mortality chart
Xs Xplain’d
Posted in Statistics with tags coronavirus epidemics, COVID-19, David Spiegelhalter, demographics, excess deaths, mortality chart, Our World in Data, pandemic, The Guardian, UK, USA on January 31, 2021 by xi'anupdated (over)mortality curves
Posted in Statistics with tags coronavirus epidemics, COVID-19, France, INSEE, lockdown, mortality chart, official statistics, quarantine on May 26, 2020 by xi'an
mortality rates as sounder indicators
Posted in pictures, Statistics, Travel with tags coronavirus epidemics, COVID-19, death certificate, France, INSEE, Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques, mortality chart on April 6, 2020 by xi'an
in the time of cholera
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel with tags beautiful science, cholera, coxcomb, Florence Nightingale, John Snow, London, mortality chart, Pierre Jacob, Statisfaction, statistical graphics on April 6, 2014 by xi'an
