Thread by @rubiconcapital_

Sensational article appealing to emotions, claiming Toronto ICUs "struggling with younger C19 patients". The headline may have you think ICU is in onslaught with young kids. ICUs are challenged, but the following charts don't match this narrative. 1/
twitter.com/i/events/13559…

Here are percentage of total COVID19 ICU admissions by age group in the 1st vs 2nd wave. Extremely low 6% of all ICU admissions in Under 39 ages, with only minimal changes in overall ICU admission mix in older ages. So the age mix of patients is roughly similar.

Here is the actual number of daily ICU admissions by age group... Under 39, 40-69, 70+....
Yes, we see the older ages are increasing... just like they were in the first wave...
Under 39 ages? ABOUT 1 ICU ADMISSION EVERY 5 DAYS.

And here is the 2nd wave daily average ICU admissions in total and per 1 million in Toronto. Notice the 34-fold difference in young versus old ages. Roughly 3.5 new ICU admissions per day on average in the entire city of Toronto in the second wave.

Here again is the % of total ICU admissions by three age cohorts, this time shown with each age groups share of the overall Toronto population... Note: 70+ is 11% of the population but 42% of ICU admissions, while U39 is 51% of the population, and just 6% of ICU admissions.

So the @TorontoStar article should be read in the context of these numbers to take the emotion out of the discussion, and to focus on the numbers. I do not mean to be insensitive, I am just acting rationally and unemotionally based on what the data says.

Source for all data: open.toronto.ca/dataset/covid-…
(interpret time series data with caution in last 2 weeks due to reporting delays).

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM/ If you want to have some sense of the paper's potential economic incentives... have a look here...

https://twitter.com/rubiconcapital_/status/1343038007750893571