Demographics

Why everybody you know is sick right now What’s behind the early surge in RSV and flu — and what’s to come. Dylan Scott Vox

Cold and flu season is off to a particularly nasty start across the United States.

What can the US do to increase updated COVID booster rates? Experts say public health officials will need to meet Americans where they are to increase rates of COVID-19 updated booster shots. ABC News ABC News

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Experts told ABC News that COVID-19 is not currently top of mind for many Americans and that public health officials and community leaders need to meet people where they are.

Products - Data Briefs - Number 447 - October 2022 (cdc.gov)

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Death rates in the United States are higher in rural than urban areas, and the difference has grown over the last 2 decades (1). Death rates for all of the 10 leading causes of death in 2019 were higher in rural than urban areas (1). In 2020, deaths due to COVID-19 became the third leading cause of death in the United States (2). This report presents COVID-19 death rates for rural and urban areas in 2020 by sex and age group (under age 65 and 65 and over). Rates are presented for the six categories of urbanicity according to the decedent’s county of residence (3). Urban areas include large central metropolitan, large fringe metropolitan, medium metropolitan, and small metropolitan; rural areas include micropolitan and noncore (nonmetropolitan).

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Among Seniors, a Declining Interest in Boosters - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

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Although Americans over 65 remain the demographic most likely to have received the original series of vaccinations, at 92 percent, their interest in keeping their vaccinations up-to-date is steadily declining, data from the C.D.C. shows. To date, about 71 percent have received the first recommended booster, but only about 44 percent have received the second.

Younger people have also been less likely to receive boosters than the original vaccinations, and only about one-third of people of all ages have received any booster, The New York Times vaccine tracker indicates. But seniors, who constitute 16 percent of the population, are more vulnerable to the virus’s effects, accounting for three-quarters of the nation’s 1.1 million deaths.

“From the beginning, older people have felt the virus was more of a threat to their safety and health and have been among the earliest adopters of the vaccine and the first round of boosters,” said Mollyann Brodie, the executive director of public opinion at Kaiser Family Foundation, which has been tracking vaccination rates and attitudes.