This study analyzed 191,392 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases  and 20,141 confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths among New York City (NYC) residents from March 1-May 16, 2020. The researchers applied a network model-inference system developed to support the City's pandemic response to estimate underlying SARS-CoV-2 infection rates.

Based on these estimates, the researchers further estimated the infection fatality risk (IFR) for 5 age groups and overall. 

They estimated an overall IFR of 1.45% (95% Credible Interval: 1.09-1.87%) in NYC. Weekly IFR was estimated as high as 6.1% for 65-74 year-olds and 17.0% for 75+ year-olds. 

Abstract for Estimating the infection fatality risk of COVID-19 in New York City, March 1-May 16, 2020

IFR stands for infection mortality rate and it represents the proportion of infected people who will die (including those who don't get tested/don't show symptoms). It is one of the most important statistics when studying disease. The current best estimate of COVID-19 is 0.5-1%.

Northwestern University

Due to differences in testing and case definitions, as well as how new COVID-19 is, the fatality of the virus is not well-defined yet.

Fatality of COVID-19

On July 27, 2020, the number of confirmed cases was 16,523,815
 worldwide, with 655,112 deaths resulting in a crude fatality rate of 4.0%..

Case Fatality Rate of COVID-19

The sum of all stages of the product of the probability of dying from the disease at a given stage and the probability of surviving to that stage. The case fatality risk proportion of COVID-19 is less often used than case fatality rate and is still being determined with ongoing research.

Case Fatality Risk Proportion of COVID-19

Fatality of COVID-19 by Continent

When identifying COVID-19 associated deaths, it's important to understand what methods are being used to compile the fatality statistics. It is possible to underestimate the severity of the pandemic if deaths aren't appropriately accounted for.
- Confirmed COVID-19 associated death
- Probable COVID-19 associated death
- Excess death

Types of COVID-19 Associated Deaths

African American/black individuals had a much higher mortality rate (73 COVID-19 cases per 100 000 individuals) compared to Latino individuals (36 COVID-19 cases per 100000 individuals) and White individuals (22 COVID-19 cases per 100000 individuals).

COVID-19 Mortality Differences by Race, United States

As of May 7, 2020 in New York City, NY,  there was greater age-adjusted COVID-19 mortality rates of Latino individuals (187 per 100 000) and African American individuals (184 per 100 000), than of White (93 per 100 000) individuals. 

COVID-19 Mortality Differences by Race, NYC, United States

Studies of COVID-19 Patient Mortality Categorized by Geographic Region 

IFR of COVID-19

- Breastfeeding Medicine
- Bulletin Of Mathematical Biology
- Intensive Care Medicine 
- Journal of Risk Research
- Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
- MedRxIV
- New journal
- Resuscitation
- Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
- The Lancet
- The New England Journal of Medicine

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