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

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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/">https://data.cms.gov/stories/s...
Here& #39;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">https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss...
@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/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...
Below are the current vaccination rates by age group.

#vaccination-demographics-trends">https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/ #vaccination-demographics-trends">https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-dat...
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& #39;d say yes. We can do both, but the middle aged are crucial

They& #39;re how we get deaths down.
You can follow @Atul_Gawande.
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