Epidemiology

Epidemiology

Assume you have conducted an investigation of the COVID-19 infections and vaccinations and you have obtained the following data (the data are hypothetical).

i. Complete the following table, using 2018 US population estimates of 331 million people to calculate the cumulative incidence for COVID-19 cases per 100,000 and report the absolute change in incidence. Summarize the geographic differences in incidence and change in incidence from March to April 2020.

State	Reported new cases MARCH	Incidence per 100,000 MARCH	Reported new cases APRIL	Incidence per 100,00 APRIL	Change in incidence
New York	76,876		78,176
New Jersey	44,416		43,154
Michigan	18,970		18,900
Louisiana	16,284		19,713
California	15,865		15,991

ii. Create an epidemiological curve and describe the trend from the U.S. COVID-19 case data below. Ensure you note the peak for reported cases in the month of December.

Date	Number of reported COVID-19 cases
12/1/20	122,134
12/2/20	124,503
12/3/20	125,231
12/4/20	124,600
12/5/20	129,103
12/6/20	135,200
12/7/20	151,400
12/8/20	187,672
12/9/20	201,210
12/10/20	210,300
12/11/20	189,200
12/12/20	187,690
12/13/20	184,300
12/14/20	179,200
12/15/20	171,230
12/16/20	168,993
12/17/20	166,789
12/18/20	177,698
12/19/20	162,230
12/20/20	151,330
12/21/20	148,932
12/22/20	140,771
12/23/20	138,389

iii. Consider a case-control study design to collect real world efficacy data on the COVID-19 vaccine. As the investigator in charge of this study, describe how you would select cases and controls. What are some ways you can limit bias in this study? Identify and describe any important confounding variables that you would consider exploring in the primary association between COVID-19 vaccination and acquisition of disease.

iv. Compute and interpret the Odds Ratio for the results of the case control study below.

Received COVID-19 Vaccine		Cases	Controls	Total
	Yes	300	2,800	3,100
	No	4,700	2,200	6,900
	Total	5,000	5,000	10,000