Region X FQHC COVID-19 Data Comparison to National Trends
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Written by: Alexcia DeVasquez, Data & Information Specialist, NWRPCA
As many of our states start to open up, Data Points would like to examine the COVID infection-rate trends that we see on the state level using data available through the HRSA surveys that our health centers fill out every week and data the New York Times (NYT) has made public through Git Hub.
Over the last ten weeks, we have seen a steady and consistent plateauing of new cases within three of our Region X states (Alaska, Idaho, and Oregon), while Washington shows a decline of new cases being identified from ten weeks ago, but by no means a steady decline or plateau. Washington has seen outbreaks throughout multiple counties including Yakima, which NYT recognizes as a “Hot Spot,” and which shows, on average, 100 new cases per day over the last 7 days.
As test accessibility are still a real struggle for health centers in our region, Washington has seen a decrease in the number of tests provided from ten weeks ago, but an increase in the number of positive cases within our health centers. I think this shows that the prevalence of new COVID-19 cases in the subset of our population is increasing.
Written by: Alexcia DeVasquez, Data & Information Specialist, NWRPCA
As many of our states start to open up, Data Points would like to examine the COVID infection-rate trends that we see on the state level using data available through the HRSA surveys that our health centers fill out every week and data the New York Times (NYT) has made public through Git Hub.
Over the last ten weeks, we have seen a steady and consistent plateauing of new cases within three of our Region X states (Alaska, Idaho, and Oregon), while Washington shows a decline of new cases being identified from ten weeks ago, but by no means a steady decline or plateau. Washington has seen outbreaks throughout multiple counties including Yakima, which NYT recognizes as a “Hot Spot,” and which shows, on average, 100 new cases per day over the last 7 days.
As test accessibility are still a real struggle for health centers in our region, Washington has seen a decrease in the number of tests provided from ten weeks ago, but an increase in the number of positive cases within our health centers. I think this shows that the prevalence of new COVID-19 cases in the subset of our population is increasing.
Our health centers are seeing an increase of new cases after mid-May. As we know, health centers see a different demographic set of patients (a subset) from those that are represented in the National reports of information. NYT’s counts are from laboratories and probable confirmed cases, while our cases are reported from our health centers, which are frequently a different demographic than those who have access to private testing. It is not mutually exclusive, as employers of farmers and other at-risk communities have provided testing to their employees.
What do you suspect are some of the reasons that we see different trends compared to the national average? We would like to provide more information that would be relevant to our Region. Fill out this form to provide your thoughts.
What do you suspect are some of the reasons that we see different trends compared to the national average? We would like to provide more information that would be relevant to our Region. Fill out this form to provide your thoughts.
Of the 81 health centers that reported on 6/5/2020, we see that we have 78 health centers that are able to provide COVID-19 Testing; 59 of those are able to conduct drive-up testing. Although not all health centers report weekly and not all the same health centers are able to report, we do see a trend upwards in both testing capabilities and drive-up testing capabilities.
We see about a quarter of our region’s health centers are able to provide testing within 24 hours. The majority (52) health centers are able to provide results within 2-3 days and a few have longer turnarounds.
Sources:
New York Times Git hub: https://github.com/nytimes/covid-19-data
NWTimes out break information: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.htm
Sources:
New York Times Git hub: https://github.com/nytimes/covid-19-data
NWTimes out break information: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.htm
