THREAD – statistical misrepresentation

I have seen the table below being widely shared to falsely imply that deaths are no higher than normal this year

The table is both factually incorrect and misleading

Those who created it deliberately sow confusion and doubt

1/6
Firstly, a common approach used to manipulate statistics is the selective use of dates or time periods

In the table you can see that previous complete years are being compared to a partial year – only going up to week 45 of this year, which ended on 6 Nov

2/6
Secondly, having made it look like official numbers are being used, the wrong number is actually given

There had been 517k deaths registered by 6 Nov this year, not the 485k that are stated in the table

3/6
Thirdly, an out-of-date statistic continues to be used

We have now published data for deaths registered up to the end of week 49 (4 Dec this year). There have been 567k deaths so far

Figures from the corresponding period in previous years were 496k, 510k, 500k, 494k & 501k

4/6
Given current weekly numbers of deaths, we can sadly assume that there are likely to be over 600k deaths registered in E&W this year

There have only been 600k+ deaths registered in a single year once before – in 1918, the year of the “Spanish” flu pandemic

5/6
No’s are affected by population size & structure. As well as by health and public health. We came close to 600k deaths in the 1970s/80s. 10 yrs ago we were below 500k

This year we’re likely to see c.70k “excess” deaths above the 5-yr avg – the best measure to use

6/6 ENDS

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More from @NickStripe_ONS

12 Jun
THREAD – COVID local area and deprivation analysis

Today we have updated our spatial analysis to include all deaths registered and processed so far that occurred from Mar-May

Our interactive local level MSOA map can be found here:

ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…

1/n
An updated interactive Local Authority map is in section 4 (fig.4) of our report:

ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…

For both the MSOA and LA maps you can select areas, months, and whether to include all deaths that occurred or only those where COVID was mentioned on death certs

2/n
London had the highest COVID-related age-standardised mortality rate (ASMR) with 137.6 deaths per 100k persons (Mar-May)

This was significantly higher than any other region in Eng and more than a third higher than the region with the next highest rate (the NW)

3/n
Read 12 tweets
9 Jun
THREAD – Deaths registered w/e 29 May (E&W)

This was another bank holiday (Mon 25 May) affected week

As a result, we expected to see a reduction in the number of deaths registered. We also hoped to see a drop in the % that deaths remained above the 5-yr weekly average

1/n
There were 9,824 deaths registered, 20% fewer than the week before

This was 1,653 “excess” deaths above the 5-yr weekly average

= 20% above what we’d expect in this week of the year, down from 24% above the week before

2/n
1,822 deaths mentioned COVID on death certificates, 19% of all deaths registered

As in the week before, this was 110% of the number of excess deaths i.e. slightly more

Deaths not mentioning COVID on death certs were slightly below the 5-yr weekly average

3/n
Read 9 tweets
5 Jun
THREAD – “Non-COVID” excess deaths

Between 7 Mar & 1 May there were 130k deaths registered across E&W

This was 46.4k deaths above 5-yr averages

According to death certs 12.9k (28%) of this “excess” did not mention COVID

98% are now fully coded enabling detailed analysis

1/n
Possible explanations include:

1. COVID was present but undiagnosed, particularly in the presence of other co-morbidities and the absence of a positive test

2. Reluctance to seek care or a delay in receiving care for people with serious health conditions

2/n
3. Reduced hospital capacity affecting ongoing care for people with underlying conditions

4. An increase in stress related causes due to lockdown

5. An increase in death registration efficiency introducing a process effect

3/n
Read 15 tweets
2 Jun
THREAD – Deaths registered w/e 22 May (E&W)

The number of death registrations last week (w/e 15/5) was high as Register Offices caught up following VE Day closures on Fri 8 May

We were subsequently hoping to see a big drop in registrations and “excess” deaths this week

1/9
12,288 deaths were registered in w/e 22 May

A drop of 2,285 (16%) deaths compared to w/e 15 May

But still 2,348 (24%) above the 5-year weekly average of 9,940 deaths

We would normally expect to see this level of weekly death registrations in the middle of winter

2/9
Some regions were further above 5-yr weekly average deaths than others:

The North East was 40% above, the East of England 30%, and Yorkshire & The Humber 29%

Whereas the South West was 8% above and Wales 13%

3/9
Read 9 tweets
26 May
THREAD - Deaths registered w/e 15 May (E&W)

With the news agenda focused elsewhere today, here’s my summary

Caveat - where VE Day Bank Holiday register office closures reduced death regs in w/e 8 May, the subsequent catch up will have increased them in this reporting week

1/n
14,573 deaths registered - 1,916 higher than w/e 8 May and 4,385 (43%) higher than the 5-year weekly average

In the last 8 weeks 135,575 deaths have been regstd

“Excess” deaths above 5-yr av now total c.54k (E&W)

This rises to just under 60k excess deaths across the UK

2/n
3,810 deaths (26%) mentioned COVID on the death certificate this week

There have now been c.41k deaths involving COVID across E&W

This rises to c.45k across the UK

3/n
Read 7 tweets
15 May
THREAD – my first take on the COVID mortality reports we released today

1.Deaths occurring in April
2.Deaths in the care sector

Our data sources are:
-death registrations
-death notifications to CQC & CIW

1/n
The number of COVID-related deaths increased from 7% of all deaths in March to 37% of all deaths in April

Of these deaths (approx. 34k), COVID was the underlying cause of death in 95% of cases (approx. 32k)

i.e. 95% died from COVID not just with COVID

2/n
In just 2 months we have seen as many deaths due to COVID as the 3rd most common cause of death in the whole of 2018 - our last full annual analysis

Annualised age standardised mortality rates (ASMR) are c.70% higher than normal in Eng this Apr and c.40% higher in Wales

3/n
Read 14 tweets

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