The interim report of Round 6 of @imperialcollege's #REACT study makes grim reading. It estimates 96,000 new infections a day, with an R of 1.56, and doubling every 9 days. Nearly 1m are estimated to be infected. Covering 16-25 Oct, it's very up to date. Here's some detail. 1/8
Regionally, Yorks/Humber has overtaken the NW, consistent with admissions data @COVID19actuary has been reporting recently. Lower prevalence areas have higher growth rates, with R over 2, so there should be no complacency elsewhere, with short doubling times. 2/8
Similarly for age, although 18-24 is highest the most rapid growth is now at older ages, with a threefold increase at 55-64, and doubling above 65. It's these groups which will be driving the increases in admissions we've already seen (and sadly, subsequent deaths). 3/8
A busy slide that shows variations by several factors. The ethnicity divide appears to have lessened this time around, but deprivation and size of household remain important factors. All the detailed data is in the report tables. imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial… 4/8
This slide highlights the ten-fold growth in just two months, and also the size of the survey. Remember it's an interim report, to get us results quickly, so this sample size is reduced. There's enough data though to be clear as to the trend. 5/8
Some debate on social media last time as whether it was appropriate to smooth the R estimate over the previous round. This time the study is clear there is enough data to use the Rd 6 data alone, with no overlap of the CI's. Note even now the wide doubling time CI's though. 6/8
A sobering conclusion, which suggests that whilst it's been a slower rise, we are now at a critical point. There's a clear message that we need to get R below 1 rapidly. I'd add that should be across all areas, given rapid growth in lower prevalence areas. 7/8
The extent and timeliness of this data is excellent - just 3 days to turn it around, and so continuing thanks to @imperialcollege, its many partner bodies, and all those involved in #REACT. Let's all take note and redouble our efforts to protect ourselves and others. 8/8 ENDS

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More from @john_actuary

27 Oct
The latest #REACT study by @imperialcollege shows decreasing levels of antibody prevalence. Overall levels fell by 24% over a 12 week period, from 6% to 4.8% in Round 2, and now 4.4%. Let's take a closer look in this short thread. 1/6
By age the % fall was greatest in the oldest groups, with an increasing trend from age 45. There is some variability though, eg in the data table in the report we see 75+ increased in Rd 3 by 25%, reflecting some wide CI's. 2/6
Showing the wide regional variation, London fell 27% from 13% to 9.5%, whereas at the other end of the spectrum, the SW fell 42% from 2.8% to 1.6%. Note again the increase in Rd 3 for the SW, with a very wide CI for the change we shouldn't read too much into this. 3/6
Read 6 tweets
23 Oct
The latest weekly report from @ONS on infectivity shows a further increase for England, with 433k (up from 336k) estimated to be infected in the most recent period. That's 1 in 130 (1 in 160), and with 35,200 (27,900) new infections per week. 1/6
The regional trends are starting to show some variation, with some signs of levelling in the last couple of weeks for the worst affected regions. Wider confidence intervals make these more uncertain though, but hopeful signs maybe. 2/6
By age there's a clear fall in early teens, a levelling off for younger adults, but still growth at older ages, albeit at a lower level. Those are the ages which matter in terms of hospitalisation though. 3/6
Read 7 tweets
23 Oct
I'm uncomfortable with comparisons with the 1st wave - there's an implication that as long as numbers are lower, everything's OK, which I disagree with. But with numbers in the NW rising, how do admissions compare? 1/7
At first sight much better. The peak day so far is much lower, and it's taken longer to get to even half that level. (I've assumed the peak was on D14 in the first wave as the later peak appears to be data catch up.) I'll discuss the current trend later. 2/7
If you look at the cumulative position, again we're well down on Wave 1. But interestingly, the total admissions are almost twice that seen by the first peak. They've just been much more spread out. Remember "flatten the curve" - it's clearly had a big effect this time. 3/7
Read 7 tweets
22 Oct
The latest weekly PHE Flu & COVID Surveillance Report is out. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl… At first glance there's been a welcome flattening off of both cases and infectivity, but the age split shows that at older ages there are still increases. Case rates first.... 1/5
Now infectivity levels, for pillar 2 (community testing). Most are still rising steeply, except for younger ages. 2/5
Admissions next, using rates per 100k, to allow for differing populations by region. It's still consistent with the picture @COVID19actuary has been sharing for some time now. The age split shows the concern over older age groups. 3/5
Read 5 tweets
20 Oct
A release from the CDC that I suspect one presidential candidate will find rather untimely. 300,000 excess deaths, a third of which are not directly attributed to COVID - that's a higher proportion than in the UK. 1/4 cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…
Media comment already noting that the 25-44 group has been hit hardest. Maybe in terms of % increase, but given very low death rates at younger ages, I'm not sure I'd agree with that view. 2/4 Image
The disparity by ethnicity that we see here is repeated, but just looking at the graphs even more so. 3/4 Image
Read 4 tweets
1 Oct
The @imperialcollege #REACT Survey has published an interim report of its 5th round. The headline is that it suggests R has fallen sharply in recent weeks, and could now be around 1.1 . Let's take a more detailed look... 1/9
The interim report covers 85,000 samples over the period 18th-26th Sept, so is very up to date. It found 363 positive samples, an infectivity of 0.55% (over 1 in 200) , consistent with the latest @ONS report. That's the highest since the survey started in May. 2/9
Round 4 put R at 1.7 for late Aug/early Sep. These results show a clear slowing, and the report notes other indicators (eg calls to the NHS) are consistent with this direction. The CI is wider though as this is an interim report, so the sample size is reduced. 3/9
Read 9 tweets

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