Found this map/infographic on r/orangecounty on Reddit. Apparently, the data is from here. So both my house and the dialysis center is in the City of Orange, which has one of the highest case count per 10,000 residents at 94.4.
Here is a map of median household income in Orange County.
There seems to be a rough correlation between case rate and median income. As expected, comments on the Reddit thread blames income inequality. Basically poorer people live in denser housing and can’t work from home. However, South County seems to be where all the anti-mask protests are taking place yet infection rates are lower then North County.
Questions:
- What is the main driver of COVID-19 infections? Are people getting sick at work from co-workers? At home from family members? At extra-curricular gatherings from strangers?
- Why would there be a spike in cases in early June? Is it restaurant openings? Church services? Gathering at beaches and parks?
- Is the spike in cases uniform across all cities or also related to household income? Why or why not?
- How is the case rate related to mask utilization rate?
Sure, if you live with more people, the infection risk goes up, especially if family members have to work or are not socially distancing when out. However, my company’s HR department claims that all COVID-19 cases at work are from non-work contacts. In the end, I’m trying to judge the risk of living in a dark red area. Should I go food shopping in Irvine instead? Without tracing the source of each case, it’s hard to manage risk.
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I just noticed the highest cumulative age group for number of cases is 25-34. Is that because that’s the group with the most population or is the case rate also the highest? Did that change over time, i.e., since the spike, or was that always the case? If it was a recent development, since we were told that COVID-19 initially affected older and immuno-compromised people, then being poor doesn’t explain the numbers. It’s likely that younger people are ignoring precautions and going out post Memorial Day. Maybe Santa Ana and Anaheim has a higher percentage of younger people.
Life with chronic diseases 