Covid-19 case data by Somerville zip code and week

[mem_winterhill]

At this week's city council meeting about Public Health and Public Safety, data was presented about the cases in our area that I thought was interesting.

The full meeting agenda and video can be seen here: http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=3147

Comments

[surprisefries]

Thanks Mary, that's really interesting. Concerning for us '45ers, but of course it's hard to really tell since it's not normalized to population size. I would wager that 02145 is the most dense ZIP but that's just a guess, and I'd imagine it would still be highest in 02145 if they did normalize it. And of course it's the lowest economic status ZIP...

I wonder why they didn't account for population though, I'm sure they have those data.

looks like I'm right

[surprisefries]

Okay I did a very back-of-the-envelope here, estimating numbers from that graph and using these population data- I have no idea how accurate they are though. The population differences aren't that big (25058, 25095, 26887 for '43, '44, and '45 repsectively) so if they're reasonably accurate the pattern holds up. 02145 also has the lowest average household income, and sadly I think it's safe to not be surprised that the infection rate is inversely correlated with income.


(edited to correct numbers)

Re: looks like I'm right

[surprisefries]

(yes i am avoiding work right now)

Re: looks like I'm right

[mem_winterhill]

Heh. Yeah, saw you on twitter too, figured that was what was up.

And also yes: apparently people were coming to that conclusion on Facebook too. I'm not on there, but Erika posted it and it still looks depressing when figured for population.

If you are still bored, post that new graph on reddit too, because some people were grousing about it not being normalized. I thought the raw numbers were helpful though, too, just as I'm thinking about how many people are walking around on an 02145 street.