Coronavirus COVID-19

[BDKJMU]

What any sane person has known all along:

Dr. Leana Wen slammed after admitting there's been 'overcounting' of COVID deaths: ‘TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATE’
Wen claimed that the actual COVID-19 death count could only be '30 percent of what's currently reported'

https://www.foxnews.com/media/dr-leana- ... years-late

Which means Covid is what many of us have been saying all along- Covid is like a really bad flu.

[SeattleGriz]

What any sane person has known all along:

Dr. Leana Wen slammed after admitting there's been 'overcounting' of COVID deaths: ‘TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATE’
Wen claimed that the actual COVID-19 death count could only be '30 percent of what's currently reported'

https://www.foxnews.com/media/dr-leana- ... years-late

Which means Covid is what many of us have been saying all along- Covid is like a really bad flu.

The "free money" aspect of diagnosing everything (falsely) with a COVID slant must be drying up, so Wen decided she needed to keep trying to rebuild her lost credibility.

[kalm]

A couple months old but long term effects and reinfection continue to cause alarm.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began almost three years ago, scientists have learned that an initial infection can lead to short- and long-term health risks affecting nearly every organ system in the body. They’ve also determined that people can get COVID-19 a second or a third time, despite acquiring natural antibodies after the first infection and receiving vaccination and booster shots.

Now, a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care system shows the health consequences of reinfection. The researchers found that repeat SARS-CoV-2 infections contribute significant additional risk of adverse health conditions in multiple organ systems.

Such outcomes include hospitalization; disorders affecting the lungs, heart, brain, and the body’s blood, musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal systems; and even death. Reinfection also contributes to diabetes, kidney disease and mental health issues.

The findings are published Nov. 10 in Nature Medicine.

“During the past few months, there’s been an air of invincibility among people who have had COVID-19 or their vaccinations and boosters, and especially among people who have had an infection and also received vaccines; some people started to referring to these individuals as having a sort of superimmunity to the virus,” said senior author Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, a clinical epidemiologist at the School of Medicine. “Without ambiguity, our research showed that getting an infection a second, third or fourth time contributes to additional health risks in the acute phase, meaning the first 30 days after infection, and in the months beyond, meaning the long COVID phase.”

Additionally, the study indicated that the risk seems to increase with each infection. “This means that even if you’ve had two COVID-19 infections, it’s better to avoid a third,” Al-Aly said. “And if you’ve had three infections, it’s best to avoid the fourth.”

https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/repeat- ... ure-death/

[SeattleGriz]

A couple months old but long term effects and reinfection continue to cause alarm.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began almost three years ago, scientists have learned that an initial infection can lead to short- and long-term health risks affecting nearly every organ system in the body. They’ve also determined that people can get COVID-19 a second or a third time, despite acquiring natural antibodies after the first infection and receiving vaccination and booster shots.

Now, a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care system shows the health consequences of reinfection. The researchers found that repeat SARS-CoV-2 infections contribute significant additional risk of adverse health conditions in multiple organ systems.

Such outcomes include hospitalization; disorders affecting the lungs, heart, brain, and the body’s blood, musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal systems; and even death. Reinfection also contributes to diabetes, kidney disease and mental health issues.

The findings are published Nov. 10 in Nature Medicine.

“During the past few months, there’s been an air of invincibility among people who have had COVID-19 or their vaccinations and boosters, and especially among people who have had an infection and also received vaccines; some people started to referring to these individuals as having a sort of superimmunity to the virus,” said senior author Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, a clinical epidemiologist at the School of Medicine. “Without ambiguity, our research showed that getting an infection a second, third or fourth time contributes to additional health risks in the acute phase, meaning the first 30 days after infection, and in the months beyond, meaning the long COVID phase.”

Additionally, the study indicated that the risk seems to increase with each infection. “This means that even if you’ve had two COVID-19 infections, it’s better to avoid a third,” Al-Aly said. “And if you’ve had three infections, it’s best to avoid the fourth.”

https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/repeat- ... ure-death/

Where are your thoughts on man made vs nature in regards to the origin?

I've been man made from the beginning.

[houndawg]

He wasn’t suppose to say that!

Since day one they've said that the purpose of masks is to reduce your radius of infectivity.

[JohnStOnge]

He wasn’t suppose to say that!

Since day one they've said that the purpose of masks is to reduce your radius of infectivity.

Plus, as I wrote earlier, he was making a comparison to improving indoor air quality. He talked about improving indoor air quality as an intervention and said it could possibly reduce risk of infection by 80%. Then he said there is no study saying masking works that well. He was clearly just saying that improving indoor air quality works better than masking. He was not saying masking doesn't work.

Just another example of Clay Travis either being intellectually dishonest or ignorant. In this case I don't see how it could be ignorance because if you listen to the clip the "that well" statement is clearly part of a comparison to controlling indoor air quality and not a general statement that masks don't work that well.

[JohnStOnge]

Remember when, early in the pandemic, conservatives were comparing COVID-19 death rates in New York and Florida as a means of claiming DeSantis was doing things right? Early on, New York had a much higher death rate.

As of July 1, 2020, New York's death rate was nearly 10 times Florida's. 1668 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 176 (9.5 times as high).

As of January 1, 2021, New York's death rate was nearly twice Florida's. 1978 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 1084 (1.8 times as high).

I don't know how long ago Florida's death rate overtook New York's. But, when I checked this morning , I saw that it has. As of now, the Worldometers page shows a 3911 per million population death rate for New York vs. a 3,919 death rate for Florida.

I can remember that the first time I checked on where Florida ranked in terms of death rate it was middle of the pack. Somewhere in the 20s. Unfortunately I did not keep data from that far back so the earliest ranking I could find on my computer is from January 27, 2022. About a year ago. On that date, Worldometers indicated Florida had the 18th highest death rate. As of this morning, the site indicates it as having the 13th highest death rates. The State has continued to move up the rankings over time.

New York got hit hard early. For some period the fact (yes, fact) that community masking reduces the risk was not recognized. It was a new disease so health care professionals had not yet identified some approaches for reducing mortality. Pharmaceutical treatments were very limited. There were no vaccines.

Florida was spared early on.

As time went on, options for reducing risk were recognized, health care providers learned to better manage the disease, vaccines and more effective pharmaceutical treatments became available. New York officials followed the consensus advice of public health professionals. Florida officials, led by DeSantis, did not follow the consensus advice of public health professionals. And they brought in public health professionals with views contrary to the public health consensus to argue for their contrarian posture.

And here we are. Florida has more than made up the ground. Slightly more at this point. But more. From a time when New York had about 10 times Florida's death rate and "conservatives" were touting Florida's approach as superior to a time when the Sunshine State's death rate is now higher.

[UNI88]

Since day one they've said that the purpose of masks is to reduce your radius of infectivity.

Plus, as I wrote earlier, he was making a comparison to improving indoor air quality. He talked about improving indoor air quality as an intervention and said it could possibly reduce risk of infection by 80%. Then he said there is no study saying masking works that well. He was clearly just saying that improving indoor air quality works better than masking. He was not saying masking doesn't work.

Just another example of Clay Travis either being intellectually dishonest or ignorant. In this case I don't see how it could be ignorance because if you listen to the clip the "that well" statement is clearly part of a comparison to controlling indoor air quality and not a general statement that masks don't work that well.

So you're saying that someone saying masks "don't work that well" isn't really saying that masks "don't work that well"?

[UNI88]

Remember when, early in the pandemic, conservatives were comparing COVID-19 death rates in New York and Florida as a means of claiming DeSantis was doing things right? Early on, New York had a much higher death rate.

As of July 1, 2020, New York's death rate was nearly 10 times Florida's. 1668 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 176 (9.5 times as high).

As of January 1, 2021, New York's death rate was nearly twice Florida's. 1978 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 1084 (1.8 times as high).

I don't know how long ago Florida's death rate overtook New York's. But, when I checked this morning , I saw that it has. As of now, the Worldometers page shows a 3911 per million population death rate for New York vs. a 3,919 death rate for Florida.

I can remember that the first time I checked on where Florida ranked in terms of death rate it was middle of the pack. Somewhere in the 20s. Unfortunately I did not keep data from that far back so the earliest ranking I could find on my computer is from January 27, 2022. About a year ago. On that date, Worldometers indicated Florida had the 18th highest death rate. As of this morning, the site indicates it as having the 13th highest death rates. The State has continued to move up the rankings over time.

New York got hit hard early. For some period the fact (yes, fact) that community masking reduces the risk was not recognized. It was a new disease so health care professionals had not yet identified some approaches for reducing mortality. Pharmaceutical treatments were very limited. There were no vaccines.

Florida was spared early on.

As time went on, options for reducing risk were recognized, health care providers learned to better manage the disease, vaccines and more effective pharmaceutical treatments became available. New York officials followed the consensus advice of public health professionals. Florida officials, led by DeSantis, did not follow the consensus advice of public health professionals. And they brought in public health professionals with views contrary to the public health consensus to argue for their contrarian posture.

And here we are. Florida has more than made up the ground. Slightly more at this point. But more. From a time when New York had about 10 times Florida's death rate and "conservatives" were touting Florida's approach as superior to a time when the Sunshine State's death rate is now higher.

How did you respond to the conservative claims back then?

[SeattleGriz]

Remember when, early in the pandemic, conservatives were comparing COVID-19 death rates in New York and Florida as a means of claiming DeSantis was doing things right? Early on, New York had a much higher death rate.

As of July 1, 2020, New York's death rate was nearly 10 times Florida's. 1668 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 176 (9.5 times as high).

As of January 1, 2021, New York's death rate was nearly twice Florida's. 1978 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 1084 (1.8 times as high).

I don't know how long ago Florida's death rate overtook New York's. But, when I checked this morning , I saw that it has. As of now, the Worldometers page shows a 3911 per million population death rate for New York vs. a 3,919 death rate for Florida.

I can remember that the first time I checked on where Florida ranked in terms of death rate it was middle of the pack. Somewhere in the 20s. Unfortunately I did not keep data from that far back so the earliest ranking I could find on my computer is from January 27, 2022. About a year ago. On that date, Worldometers indicated Florida had the 18th highest death rate. As of this morning, the site indicates it as having the 13th highest death rates. The State has continued to move up the rankings over time.

New York got hit hard early. For some period the fact (yes, fact) that community masking reduces the risk was not recognized. It was a new disease so health care professionals had not yet identified some approaches for reducing mortality. Pharmaceutical treatments were very limited. There were no vaccines.

Florida was spared early on.

As time went on, options for reducing risk were recognized, health care providers learned to better manage the disease, vaccines and more effective pharmaceutical treatments became available. New York officials followed the consensus advice of public health professionals. Florida officials, led by DeSantis, did not follow the consensus advice of public health professionals. And they brought in public health professionals with views contrary to the public health consensus to argue for their contrarian posture.

And here we are. Florida has more than made up the ground. Slightly more at this point. But more. From a time when New York had about 10 times Florida's death rate and "conservatives" were touting Florida's approach as superior to a time when the Sunshine State's death rate is now higher.

How did you respond to the conservative claims back then?

Notice he doesn't mention the age disparity between Florida and NY?

It's the same thing as him trying to pass off Red states as dying at a higher COVID rates when he neglects CDC studies showing those in rural areas aren't as healthy and die at a 20% greater rate already.

[kalm]

How did you respond to the conservative claims back then?

Notice he doesn't mention the age disparity between Florida and NY?

It's the same thing as him trying to pass off Red states as dying at a higher COVID rates when he neglects CDC studies showing those in rural areas aren't as healthy and die at a 20% greater rate already.

So there’s a connection to overall health and red states?

Who knew?

[SeattleGriz]

Notice he doesn't mention the age disparity between Florida and NY?

It's the same thing as him trying to pass off Red states as dying at a higher COVID rates when he neglects CDC studies showing those in rural areas aren't as healthy and die at a 20% greater rate already.

So there’s a connection to overall health and red states?

Who knew?

The CDC. It's common knowledge people who live in rural areas don't have as easy of access to quality medical care, health facilities, nor the disposable income to spend on gyms and "spin" bikes.

You get a bad case of cancer in Troy, MT where are you going to go for treatment? Probably Seattle or Spokane.

[BDKJMU]

Remember when, early in the pandemic, conservatives were comparing COVID-19 death rates in New York and Florida as a means of claiming DeSantis was doing things right? Early on, New York had a much higher death rate.

As of July 1, 2020, New York's death rate was nearly 10 times Florida's. 1668 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 176 (9.5 times as high).

As of January 1, 2021, New York's death rate was nearly twice Florida's. 1978 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 1084 (1.8 times as high).

I don't know how long ago Florida's death rate overtook New York's. But, when I checked this morning , I saw that it has. As of now, the Worldometers page shows a 3911 per million population death rate for New York vs. a 3,919 death rate for Florida.

I can remember that the first time I checked on where Florida ranked in terms of death rate it was middle of the pack. Somewhere in the 20s. Unfortunately I did not keep data from that far back so the earliest ranking I could find on my computer is from January 27, 2022. About a year ago. On that date, Worldometers indicated Florida had the 18th highest death rate. As of this morning, the site indicates it as having the 13th highest death rates. The State has continued to move up the rankings over time.

New York got hit hard early. For some period the fact (yes, fact) that community masking reduces the risk was not recognized. It was a new disease so health care professionals had not yet identified some approaches for reducing mortality. Pharmaceutical treatments were very limited. There were no vaccines.

Florida was spared early on.

As time went on, options for reducing risk were recognized, health care providers learned to better manage the disease, vaccines and more effective pharmaceutical treatments became available. New York officials followed the consensus advice of public health professionals. Florida officials, led by DeSantis, did not follow the consensus advice of public health professionals. And they brought in public health professionals with views contrary to the public health consensus to argue for their contrarian posture.

And here we are. Florida has more than made up the ground. Slightly more at this point. But more. From a time when New York had about 10 times Florida's death rate and "conservatives" were touting Florida's approach as superior to a time when the Sunshine State's death rate is now higher.

Most of those deaths counted as ‘Covid deaths’ are people duing WITH Covid, NOT FROM Covid.

[JohnStOnge]

Remember when, early in the pandemic, conservatives were comparing COVID-19 death rates in New York and Florida as a means of claiming DeSantis was doing things right? Early on, New York had a much higher death rate.

As of July 1, 2020, New York's death rate was nearly 10 times Florida's. 1668 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 176 (9.5 times as high).

As of January 1, 2021, New York's death rate was nearly twice Florida's. 1978 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 1084 (1.8 times as high).

I don't know how long ago Florida's death rate overtook New York's. But, when I checked this morning , I saw that it has. As of now, the Worldometers page shows a 3911 per million population death rate for New York vs. a 3,919 death rate for Florida.

I can remember that the first time I checked on where Florida ranked in terms of death rate it was middle of the pack. Somewhere in the 20s. Unfortunately I did not keep data from that far back so the earliest ranking I could find on my computer is from January 27, 2022. About a year ago. On that date, Worldometers indicated Florida had the 18th highest death rate. As of this morning, the site indicates it as having the 13th highest death rates. The State has continued to move up the rankings over time.

New York got hit hard early. For some period the fact (yes, fact) that community masking reduces the risk was not recognized. It was a new disease so health care professionals had not yet identified some approaches for reducing mortality. Pharmaceutical treatments were very limited. There were no vaccines.

Florida was spared early on.

As time went on, options for reducing risk were recognized, health care providers learned to better manage the disease, vaccines and more effective pharmaceutical treatments became available. New York officials followed the consensus advice of public health professionals. Florida officials, led by DeSantis, did not follow the consensus advice of public health professionals. And they brought in public health professionals with views contrary to the public health consensus to argue for their contrarian posture.

And here we are. Florida has more than made up the ground. Slightly more at this point. But more. From a time when New York had about 10 times Florida's death rate and "conservatives" were touting Florida's approach as superior to a time when the Sunshine State's death rate is now higher.

How did you respond to the conservative claims back then?

I actually bookmarked the editorial at https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/coronav ... h-leibsohn because I figured that William Bennett and Seth Leibsohn would be wrong. It is dated 4/28/2020 and included this statement:

In March, Florida was projected to be the second-worst state for COVID-19 deaths, with predictions of 174 per day and a total of nearly 7,000 by the end of the summer.  Nothing like this has transpired and it will not come to pass.   

Florida passed 7,000 COVID-19 deaths on July 24, 2020. Well before the "end of the summer" they were talking about.

I said at the time that Florida would end up being high on the COVID-19 deaths list. And they are. They now have the 3rd highest cumulative number of deaths and have the highest cumulative death rate among the five most populous States.

[JohnStOnge]

Remember when, early in the pandemic, conservatives were comparing COVID-19 death rates in New York and Florida as a means of claiming DeSantis was doing things right? Early on, New York had a much higher death rate.

As of July 1, 2020, New York's death rate was nearly 10 times Florida's. 1668 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 176 (9.5 times as high).

As of January 1, 2021, New York's death rate was nearly twice Florida's. 1978 deaths per million population vs. Florida's 1084 (1.8 times as high).

I don't know how long ago Florida's death rate overtook New York's. But, when I checked this morning , I saw that it has. As of now, the Worldometers page shows a 3911 per million population death rate for New York vs. a 3,919 death rate for Florida.

I can remember that the first time I checked on where Florida ranked in terms of death rate it was middle of the pack. Somewhere in the 20s. Unfortunately I did not keep data from that far back so the earliest ranking I could find on my computer is from January 27, 2022. About a year ago. On that date, Worldometers indicated Florida had the 18th highest death rate. As of this morning, the site indicates it as having the 13th highest death rates. The State has continued to move up the rankings over time.

New York got hit hard early. For some period the fact (yes, fact) that community masking reduces the risk was not recognized. It was a new disease so health care professionals had not yet identified some approaches for reducing mortality. Pharmaceutical treatments were very limited. There were no vaccines.

Florida was spared early on.

As time went on, options for reducing risk were recognized, health care providers learned to better manage the disease, vaccines and more effective pharmaceutical treatments became available. New York officials followed the consensus advice of public health professionals. Florida officials, led by DeSantis, did not follow the consensus advice of public health professionals. And they brought in public health professionals with views contrary to the public health consensus to argue for their contrarian posture.

And here we are. Florida has more than made up the ground. Slightly more at this point. But more. From a time when New York had about 10 times Florida's death rate and "conservatives" were touting Florida's approach as superior to a time when the Sunshine State's death rate is now higher.

Most of those deaths counted as ‘Covid deaths’ are people duing WITH Covid, NOT FROM Covid.

That is false and has repeatedly been demonstrated as false. But I understand that there are some people on message boards like this that will continue to believe that.

[JohnStOnge]

How did you respond to the conservative claims back then?

Notice he doesn't mention the age disparity between Florida and NY?

It's the same thing as him trying to pass off Red states as dying at a higher COVID rates when he neglects CDC studies showing those in rural areas aren't as healthy and die at a 20% greater rate already.

I think I posted already about doing a model that took %population >=65 and population density into account. When you use that model to control for vaccination rate you find that, given a State's %popuation >65 and population density, Florida has more COVID-19 deaths than would be expected while New York has fewer. You are grasping at straws.

[BDKJMU]

Most of those deaths counted as ‘Covid deaths’ are people duing WITH Covid, NOT FROM Covid.

That is false and has repeatedly been demonstrated as false. But I understand that there are some people on message boards like this that will continue to believe that.

Nope.
https://nypost.com/2023/01/14/dr-leana- ... ercounted/

[SeattleGriz]

That is false and has repeatedly been demonstrated as false. But I understand that there are some people on message boards like this that will continue to believe that.

Nope.
https://nypost.com/2023/01/14/dr-leana- ... ercounted/

I've already explained this to him, but he refuses to understand the obvious. A test that doesn't cost the hospital anything to run, can net them thousands of dollars if they can get a false positive, especially the overclocked PCR test. A positive RAT test up to 30 days after death also gets a cash payout.

Hospitalization and deaths have been highly cash incentivized and the testing is full of false positives, as it was not designed for this purpose.

Deaths from Covid are also incentivized by awarding the grieving family 9k.

[kalm]

Nope.
https://nypost.com/2023/01/14/dr-leana- ... ercounted/

I've already explained this to him, but he refuses to understand the obvious. A test that doesn't cost the hospital anything to run, can net them thousands of dollars if they can get a false positive, especially the overclocked PCR test. A positive RAT test up to 30 days after death also gets a cash payout.

Hospitalization and deaths have been highly cash incentivized and the testing is full of false positives, as it was not designed for this purpose.

Deaths from Covid are also incentivized by awarding the grieving family 9k.

Link?

[kalm]

[SeattleGriz]

I've already explained this to him, but he refuses to understand the obvious. A test that doesn't cost the hospital anything to run, can net them thousands of dollars if they can get a false positive, especially the overclocked PCR test. A positive RAT test up to 30 days after death also gets a cash payout.

Hospitalization and deaths have been highly cash incentivized and the testing is full of false positives, as it was not designed for this purpose.

Deaths from Covid are also incentivized by awarding the grieving family 9k.

Link?

To what part? The one about the test, or the part about the money?

[kalm]

Link?

To what part? The one about the test, or the part about the money?

Yes.

[SeattleGriz]

To what part? The one about the test, or the part about the money?

Yes.

Here the FEMA link to the program.

https://www.fema.gov/disaster/coronavir ... assistance

Haven't you heard the claims of the government tried to get me to lie about someone's death? This is usually what they are describing. FEMA reached out to them and let them know if COVID 19 was listed as cause of death, they could get 9k. It's only happened a couple of times where the family was insulted by the offer, so it's not some big conspiracy.

There is nothing illegal going on here, just hospitals trying to make some money, especially in the lab area. The lab I used to work for was actually the lab for a large chain of hospitals in the Seattle area. It's really hard for even big hospitals to turn a profit off labs, so they cut us a big check every month that covered all the testing we provided.

My point being that you can bet every lab director out there said to maximize testing to take advantage of super inflated test payouts. The test used to be reimbursed at around $100, but dropped to around $25 the last I heard. $25 dollars for every test RUN! Just submit the code to insurance or the government and you get your money.

This did cause hospitalizations and death to be inflated.

[JohnStOnge]

That is false and has repeatedly been demonstrated as false. But I understand that there are some people on message boards like this that will continue to believe that.

Nope.
https://nypost.com/2023/01/14/dr-leana- ... ercounted/

Because the New York Post reported that Dr. Lena Wen wrote that? There is a documented process by which COVID-19 deaths are counted. In order for something to be counted as a COVID-19 death, there has to be a professional opinion that COVID-19 was a factor leading to the person dying when they otherwise would not have died at that time. It's the same paradigm used for reporting deaths for diseases like influenza for decades. Here it is:

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf

They are not just going to say "They died and they tested positive for COVID-19, therefore they are a COVID-19 death."

Thinking that is happening...that it's just a matter of dying WITH COVID...is ridiculous.

[JohnStOnge]

Because of some of the recent discussion I a couple of models. Unfortunately the page I use for vaccine rates went dormant. It still only has vaccine rates through 8/31/2022. But i used the vaccine rates as of then as an indicator of tendency to follow public health recommendations.

Here is the end of the story: There is no support for the idea that States with more rural area are worse off because of that. That's because one of the factors I looked it is population density. And to the extent that there is an effect of population density, greater population density is associated with a higher death rate. The single most important factor isn't something like percent population 65 or older. It's poverty. And the second most important factor is boosted rate as of 8/31/2022 (which I am viewing as an indicator of the extent to which people in a State follow public health recommendations).

I looked at factors that might influence State by State COVID-19 death rates. BTW let me digress here by saying that, when you do the associations and see how things work out as expected, you can see how ridiculous it is to think that the death rates data are way off. They clearly are not.

OK. So anyway, a big part of my job is analyzing data on the impact of various factors on environmental pollution indicator levels. I just used the approach I use for that. I looked at the impact of various factors on State by State death rates as of 7 pm CST today. Here is a correlation matrix:



You can already see the end of the story. The yellow highlighted coefficients are significant at 95% confidence. You can see that the coefficients with the two highest absolute values for association with Death Rate are Poverty Rate and Boosted Rate. The positive correlation with Poverty Rate says Death Rate tends to be higher when Poverty Rate is higher. The negative correlation with Boosted Rate says Death Rate tends to be higher when Boosted Rate is lower.

I did some multiple regression models. First I did one leaving Boosted Rate out. I used the same process I use to eliminate variable in my job. And, in the end, the only variable remaining are Population Density and Poverty Rate. Both associations are positive. Higher Population Density tends to mean higher Death Rate. Again: That contradicts the rural is worse thing. Higher Poverty Rate also means higher Death rate.

But when I left Boosted Rate out, the diagnostic site I used said that the assumption of equal variances of residuals is violated. And it said that one possible reason for that is that I left out an important variable.

Enter adding Boosted Rate to the start of the process. After doing that, the final model included Percent 65 and older, Population Density, Poverty Rate, and Boosted Rate. Poverty appears to be the most important factor and Boosted Rate appears to be the second most. And the diagnostic site said, after I added Boosted Rate to the Model after it suggested that an important variable is missing, that the assumption of equal variances of residuals is good to go.

I swear, people who express some of the views I see on this site just have no clue. It is obvious that following public health recommendations is the smart thing to do. It is also obvious that the deaths data are reliable. I mean really, really obvious.