Glossary

Brief description of the terms used in the graphs.

% Covariants – Statistical samples of positive tests are genetically sequenced to determine which strain of coronavirus is active. This number represents the percentage of tests that are from a particular strain.

% of COVID Hospital Admissions by Age Cohort – Percentage of hospital admissions for COVID based on age group. Red is pediatric admissions.

% of Population Vaccinated – Percentage of population that has been given 1, 2, or 3 doses of vaccine.

Anosmia + Ageusia – Relative Google searches for either loss of taste or smell

Antigen Positivity (Quidel) – The percentage of positive antigen tests from one molecular testing company that provides their data.

Cases – The epidemic curve for new cases. The number of new cases every day.

COVID Deaths – The number of COVID Deaths in a given Epi Week.

COVID Hospital Admissions by Age – Stacked columns representing the raw number of visits by age group.

Current hospitalizations – Individuals currently hospitalized with COVID, both in regular and ICU beds.

Daily Tests – The number of tests performed.

Deaths – The epidemic curve for new deaths. The number of new deaths every day.

Dual scales – Note that most graphs have both a left and a right y-axis. This is simply to have scales that allow for the comparisons of the curves of two different variables (or similar groups of them) over time.

Epi week – The week of the year of a given measure. The specific definition of epi week one of a given year varies by country. In the US, the first epi week of the year ends, by definition, on the first Saturday of January, as long as it falls at least four days into the month. Each epi week begins on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday.

Expected Death % – The percentage of deaths above or below the average for the 2017-2019 epi weeks. 100% is the expected number compared to those prior years.

Hospital Acquired COVID – This also has been known in the past as nosocomial infections. They are infections related to being in the healthcare setting.

Hospital admissions – New admissions to the hospital each day.

ICU Utilization – Percentage of ICU beds in use.

Inpatient Bed Utilization – Percentage of regular hospital beds in use.

Mask Use – Survey of people’s perceptions of their own mask use and mask use in their community.

New Vaccinations – The number of individuals getting vaccinated for the first time.

OP Visits – Percentage of outpatient COVID vists from both Change Healthcare and COVID visits from claim data.

Positivity – The percentage of tests that are positive for COVID.

Reproduction Rate – A value that represents the rate of spread. When this value is above 1, cases will climb, when below, they will fall.

Slope – A measure of the rate of change in cases. It will remain close to zero when cases are stable. The further this line is from zero, the faster the rate of increase or decrease in cases. A good analogy is the accelerator or brake on a car. The faster the acceleration or the harder pushing down on the brake, the further that line will get from zero.

Staffing Shortages/Projected Shortages – Number of hospitals reporting they are currently having or expecting staffing shortages.

Stringency Index – This score represents the administrative restrictions by the government to reduce spread.