@AmeshAA @michaelmina_lab @baldingsworld Looking at Italy& #39;s regional data hospitalizations rates (unsurprisingly) correlate with median age of positive cases. And median age seems to correlate with the ratio of tests/case (source: DPC@gov). /1
Out of the hard-hit regions, Veneto is an outlier on testing (126k+ tests out of 5m) and skews much younger than Lombardy, Italy& #39;s COVID-19 epicenter. Some of this may have to do with testing intensity. Veneto does as many tests as Lombardy with half the pop (& fewer +s)
Lombardy and Veneto have similar age structures, so that doesn& #39;t appear to be driving the results.
The age composition of cases in the US is spotty and inconsistently reported, but WA, where testing has been robust for a while, provides an interesting comparison. It skews much younger than Lombardy, and even Veneto (60% of cases below 60 yrs, vs. 54 in Veneto & 41 in Lombardy)
Sure, WA positive cases are still not representative of the overall pop, but they& #39;re much younger than Lombardy, the region of Italy with the most hospitalizations. And a cursory look at other age reports from other states suggests that might be true elsewhere as well.
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