In 2020, humanity faced one of the most dangerous threats as SARS-CoV-2 spread worldwide, causing the pandemic with victims, national lockdowns, and continuous uncertainty. In the United States alone, more than 33 million cases of COVID-19 led to 598 thousand of deaths (CDC, 2021a). The healthcare crisis forced the nation to adopt emergency measures such as working remotely, wearing masks as protection, avoiding close social contacts, and vaccinating. These changes disrupted the economy and made the citizens revise their life, career, and relationship priorities. Statistical data is critical during the pandemic because it is helpful for recognizing trends, preventing outbreaks, and developing proper treatment strategies. For instance, SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development and implementation depended on the information about how different age groups, genders, and ethnicities got through the disease. Morbidity and mortality rates also helped in identifying healthcare challenges to address in certain states.
Demographic trends’ statistics reveal that risks of infection and fatal outcomes vary for different age groups, genders, and social statuses. Indeed, in the United States, SARS-CoV-2-caused mortality is higher among male citizens, yet female incidence is more frequent (CDC, 2021a). As each state has unique demographic and social landscapes, the nationwide trends might not be relevant to the localized statistics for COVID-19 cases and deaths. Moreover, the epidemiology measurement parameters such as age-specific and social vulnerability rates would provide unlike statistics because American states are not equal in their populations’ age ratio, economic development, and social stability.
Multiple factors must be considered to understand why the trends differ, such as the population’s socioeconomic status, general demographics, and characteristics that distinguish one state from the rest. For instance, the total national rate measured by age shows that most cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection occur among the 18-24 years old group (CDC, 2021). In North Carolina, morbidity statistics point that the 18-24 years old group is more affected by the COVID-19 (NCDHHS, 2021). This paper aims to compare the trends of incidence by age group and the influence of the social vulnerability rate in North Carolina to the national data.
Dividing the morbidity rates by age is essential from the epidemiological perspective because of this parameter’s demographic value. Consequently, all age-based ratios require checking other data regarding a specific group. In the United States, there is the highest number of cases for the 18–24-year-olds per 100 thousand population in 2021, yet in 2020 the age was higher (CDC, 2021a). The decreasing pattern might occur due to the overall number of COVID-19 cases, as older citizens tended to have the incidents during the earlier period of the pandemic (Greene et al., 2020). Besides, Greene et al. (2020) claim that “the observed age-related trends are driven by changes in testing patterns rather than true changes in the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection” (e0240783). Although age is a broad and informative indicator for analysis, the limitations might be the period selected, special conditions such as motivation to vaccinate or receive treatment, or chronic age-related diseases.
North Carolina is the state where the morbidity rate by age is not similar to the national one due to demographic and disease spread factors. Indeed, the most affected age group is 25-49 years old, representing 39% of cases by 100 thousand residents (NCDHHS, 2021). There was no pattern of changing the age of morbidity rating because one-third of the state’s population represents the 25-49 years segment (Lash et al., 2020). Furthermore, more than 45% of this age group have jobs at crucial institutions or businesses that had to operate despite the lockdowns; thus, these citizens were at a higher risk (Lash et al., 2020). Today, North Carolina has a decreasing rate of new cases due to the active vaccination of the entire population.
The social vulnerability index is another factor where trends can be noticed both in the nationwide and North Carolina statistics. This ratio identifies a community’s ability to address the consequences of the hazardous events; thus, its observation can reveal if the United States’ citizens receive sufficient support to get through the pandemic. The average national social vulnerability index was approximately 0,67 in 2019 and fell to 0,46 during the year of the pandemic (CDC, 2021b). The worsening conditions occurred due to the catastrophic incidence frequency in the states such as California, Texas, and Florida (Khazanchi et al., 2020). The pandemic is hazardous, and low-vulnerability counties increased the index due to the failure to address emergency healthcare and socioeconomic issues.
North Carolina had counties with high social vulnerability rates before the COVID-19 outbreak, thus mass morbidity, lockdowns, and increased mortality worsened the conditions. Indeed, the state’s average social vulnerability index was 0,7 in 2018 and grew up to 0,84 since the pandemic’s beginning (CDC, 2021b). North Carolina’s rural counties suffered due to the lack of timely healthcare assistance and the low socioeconomic status of its population (Khazanchi et al., 2020). Compared to the nationwide data, the localized statistics are more severe, and state-based indexes significantly influence the overall rating of the citizens’ vulnerability.
The epidemiological perspective of the pandemic requires studying the statistical data for identifying patterns that could be addressed or eliminated. The global pandemic of COVID-19 revealed that evaluating indicators based on demographical, economic, and social trends is beneficial. Indeed, morbidity cases trends by age groups and changes in the social vulnerability indexes counted for the entire nation and North Carolina, in particular, are necessary to select relevant approaches to address the healthcare crisis.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. (2021). COVID-19 weekly cases and deaths per 100,000 Population by age, race/ethnicity, and sex. Web.
Greene, D. N., Jackson, M. L., Hillyard, D. R., Delgado, J. C., & Schmidt, R. L. (2020). Decreasing median age of COVID-19 cases in the United States—Changing epidemiology or changing surveillance? Plos One, 15(10), e0240783. Web.
Khazanchi, R., Beiter, E. R., Gondi, S., Beckman, A. L., Bilinski, A., & Ganguli, I. (2020). County-level association of social vulnerability with COVID-19 cases and deaths in the USA. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(9), 2784-2787. Web.
Lash, R. R., Donovan, C. V., Fleischauer, A. T., Moore, Z. S., Harris, G., Hayes, S.,… & Samoff, E. (2020). COVID-19 contact tracing in two counties—North Carolina. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(38), 1360. Web.
NC Department of Health and Human Services [NCDHHS]. (2021). COVID-19 cases demographics. Web.