Media

Weekly Media Briefing slides for Dec. 28 Gov. Phil Scott Press Conference

Click here to see the Weekly Media Briefing of Covid-19 Data Modeling sent to Vermont media prior to today’s noontime press conference.

6 replies »

  1. Should they include non-covid hospitalizations and deaths this year compared to years past? Incorporate “vaccine” status as well. Happy New Year everyone!

  2. The slide that first caught my attention was the Covid-19 Deaths By Vaccination Status Per 100K. Note that it is ‘Measured Among Vermont’s 18 & Over Population Over the Last 6 weeks’.

    If there were 39 unvaccinated deaths per 100,000 people in Vermont (643,000+-), this slide says that 250 unvaccinated Vermonters died over the last 6 weeks. If the statistic is for only those unvaccinated deaths per 100,000 people in Vermont 18 & Over (534,000+-), there still must have been 208 unvaccinated people who died of Covid over the last 6 weeks.

    The same goes for the slide of Covid-19 Hospitalizations By Vaccination Status Per 100K. Again, it is ‘Measured Among Vermont’s 18 & Over Population Over the Last 6 weeks’.

    If there were 198 unvaccinated hospitalizations per 100,000 people in Vermont (643,000+-), this slide says that 1,273 unvaccinated Vermonters were hospitalized over the last 6 weeks. If the statistic is for only those unvaccinated deaths per 100,000 people in Vermont 18 & Over (534,000+-), there still must have been more than 1000 unvaccinated people hospitalized with Covid over the last 6 weeks.

    And why the divergence in reporting metrics? The slides start with statistics gleaned from the entire country. Then they represent New England. And finally, they reference only Vermont. Are these data sets supposed to be comparable? … like apples, oranges, and cucumbers?

    I’ll bet that neither the Governor, his administrators in the VT Dept. of Health, or anyone else clarifies this data.

    • Agreed and they are not giving us the definition of vaccinated..1 shot, 2 shots, 3 shots….

  3. That we’re seeing high increases in cases and very low hospitalizations is fascinating and it’s similar to what’s been seen in South Africa, Denmark and the UK. As recent data has shown, Omicron results in approx. 60-80% less hospitalizations than Delta.

    But the question that was raised during last week’s process conference about the categorization of hospitalizations and deaths hasn’t been answered and is super important. They don’t have data about the # of hospitalizations/deaths that tested positive in the hospital but were admitted for another reason (i.e., incidental), or the # that had a preexisting condition which was exacerbated by COVID, and the # of those purely affected by COVID. They don’t know!! How can anyone claim hospitals are being overwhelmed by COVID without knowing the particular circumstances of a hospitalization or death? I think there’s a very high likelihood of bias happening here as the VDH, and hospital administrators I suspect as well, have been laser focused on COVID-19 for a while now.

    Having this data, we could determine the true risk and # of hospitalizations and deaths that are directly attributed to COVID-19.

  4. Jay, thank you for your critical analysis. It should make us wonder if the facts are facts – or doctored along with the whole medical/pharmaceutical arena.