Dataset Information

Benchmarking the Covid-19 pandemic across countries and states in the USA under heterogeneous testing.

ABSTRACT: Scientists and policymakers need to compare the incidence of Covid-19 across territories or periods with various levels of testing. Benchmarking based on the increase in total cases or case fatality rates is one way of comparing the evolution of the pandemic across countries or territories and could inform policy decisions about strategies to control coronavirus transmission. However, comparing cases and fatality rates across regions is challenging due to heterogeneity in testing and health systems. We show two complementary ways of benchmarking across territories and in time. First, we used multivariate regressions to estimate the test-elasticity of Covid-19 case incidence. Cases grow less than proportionally with testing when assessing weekly changes or looking across states in the USA. They tend to be proportional or even more than proportional when comparing the month-to-month evolution of an average country in the pandemic. Our results were robust to various model specifications. Second, we decomposed the growth in cases into test growth and positive test ratio growth to intuitively visualize the components of case growth. We hope these results can help support evidence-based decisions by public officials and help the public discussion when comparing across territories and in time.

SUBMITTER: Asahi K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8313551 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundRacial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 infection and outcomes have been documented, but few studies have examined disparities in access to testing.MethodsWe conducted a mixed methods study of access to COVID-19 testing in the Somali immigrant community in King County, Washington, USA, early during the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020-February 2021, we conducted quantitative surveys in a convenience sample (n = 528) of individuals who had accessed PCR testing, recruited at King County testing sites near Somali population centers and through social media outreach in the Somali community. We compared self-identified Somali and non-Somali responses using Chi-square and Wilcoxon rank sum tests. We also conducted three Somali-language focus groups (n = 26) by video conference to explore Somali experiences with COVID-19 testing, and in-depth interviews with King County-based policymakers and healthcare workers (n = 13) recruited through the research team's professional network to represent key demographics and roles. Data were analyzed using qualitative rapid analysis to explore the county's COVID-19 testing landscape.ResultsAmong 420 survey respondents who had received COVID-19 testing in the prior 90 days, 29% of 140 Somali vs. 11% of 280 non-Somali respondents tested because of symptoms (p = 0.001), with a trend for longer time from symptom onset to testing (a measure of testing access) among Somali respondents (median 3.0 vs. 2.0 days, p = 0.06). Focus groups revealed barriers to testing, including distrust, misinformation, stigma, language, lack of awareness, and transportation. Stakeholders responding from all sectors highlighted the importance of community partnership to improve access.ConclusionSomali communities experience barriers to COVID-19 testing, as evidenced by the longer time from symptom onset to testing and corroborated by our qualitative findings. These barriers, both structural and community-derived, may be overcome through partnerships between government and community to support community-led, multilingual service delivery and racial representation among medical staff.

Dataset Information

Benchmarking the Covid-19 pandemic across countries and states in the USA under heterogeneous testing.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets