US COVID-19 deaths remain upwards of 700 deaths a day. Who are these people who are dying?

COVID deaths in nursing homes are down massively.

- In Dec 2020, these accounted for 32% of all COVID deaths.
- In Mar 2021, thanks to vaccination, they accounted for just 4%.

So who are the remaining 96%?

https://data.cms.gov/stories/s/COVID-19-Nursing-Home-Data/bkwz-xpvg/

Here's the change in distribution of COVID deaths by age.

- In Dec, 63% of all deaths were in ages 75+.
- In Mar, most deaths were UNDER age 75,

The flattening of COVID deaths according to age is extraordinary.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm

@Bob_Wachter has an excellent piece outlining why vaccination is key, given local officials unwillingness to give up relaxing mitigation measures.

But who should be the focus of vaccination efforts? https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/19/this-is-most-dangerous-moment-be-unvaccinated/

Below are the current vaccination rates by age group.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-demographics-trends

With vaccination >80% for people 65+, the group to focus on to reduce the most deaths are those aged 50-64.

Is reaching them more important than vaccinating the young transmitters? I'd say yes. We can do both, but the middle aged are crucial

They're how we get deaths down.