UPDATE 26/05/2020 to include data up to w/e May 15th.
Here, Strasys’ Carl Sheldrick provides three views on death rate patterns and the effect of COVID-19, allowing you to explore yourself.
Three interactive data visualisations and my observations
There is a lot of data and analysis in the media right now connected with COVID-19. Here I have built three simple visualisations from the ONS data on weekly registered deaths in England and Wales. Each shows a different perspective on the effect of COVID-19. For each I have made my own observations, but please explore yourself and let me know your thoughts.
Weekly death rates for the past five year, showing the annual pattern of registered deaths.
- It surprised me just how similar the pattern is every year.
- The dips and spikes are process driven and represent bank holidays (when registration offices are closed)
- The COVID-19 spike is big!
Cumulative numbers of deaths registered in the first part of each year.
- Taking the total death rate up until week 17 shows that 2018 had a similar tally at this stage of the year to 2020.
- Adjust the slider at the bottom to show the total from week 12 to and you can see the effect of COVID-19.
COVID-19 deaths shows the breakdown of deaths by age and place of death, for the recent months.
- Hovering over each graph shows the breakdown of deaths related to COVID-19.
- Select only COVID-19, to show the sharp increase in deaths due to the pandemic.
- There has also been a rise in Non COVID-19 deaths.
A few points to note:
- This data is based on the registration of deaths and not the day the death occurred and so there is a lag on the most recent data.
- This dataset is updated weekly (on Tuesdays) and I will look to add the most recent information as it is published.
I have built and shared these visualisations in Microsoft PowerBI. I am interested to hear any feedback you might have on the presentation of the data or the wider implications of what the data is showing.
