I finished being at the Juneteenth festivities in Johnstown and am ready to get back to county health rankings (CHR) and local COVID numbers. Case mortality (the number of deceased divided by the number of cases) will be the focus of this post. Two weeks ago, I focused on vaccination rates in the 10 county region. Case mortality and vaccination rates were negatively correlated (meaning that as one variable increases the other decreases) accounting for 54% of the variability. There were eight other CHR statistics correlated with vaccination rates. Eighteen other CHR statistics were correlated with case mortality.

Variable Correlated with Case Mortality |
Correlation Coefficient |
% Variability
Explained |
Years of Potential Life Lost Rate (YPLL) |
0.741 |
54.9% |
Average Number of Physically
Unhealthy Days |
0.690 |
47.6% |
Average Number of Mentally
Unhealthy Days |
0.837 |
70.1% |
% Smokers |
0.840 |
70.5% |
% Physically Inactive |
0.771 |
59.5% |
% With Access to Exercise
Opportunities |
-0.662 |
43.9% |
Teen Birth Rate |
0.705 |
49.8% |
% With Annual Mammogram |
-0.625 |
39.0% |
% Vaccinated for the flu |
-0.894 |
79.9% |
% Completed High School |
-0.673 |
45.2% |
% Some College |
-0.721 |
51.9% |
% Unemployed |
0.734 |
53.9% |
80th Percentile Income |
-0.796 |
63.4% |
Social Association Rate |
0.662 |
43.8% |
Injury Death Rate |
0.664 |
44.1% |
% Severe Housing Problems |
-0.634 |
40.2% |
Severe Housing Cost Burden |
-0.698 |
48.7% |
% Drive Alone to Work |
0.732 |
53.6% |