Background:
This project analyzed CDC published mortality data of a dozen major causes since 1999 and applied the Exponential Smoothing (ETS) algorithm to simulate the 2020 mortality rates per cause, per month, and per state, assuming there was no COVID-19 pandemic. The difference between the simulated rates and the actual rates revealed COVID-19 impacts on mortality of various causes in the United States. Findings from this project led to a public dashboard and a peer-reviewed paper accepted by the Annals of GIS special issue on Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 (DOI: 10.1080/19475683.2021.1982001). The project team includes Harvard CGA and CVT student researchers.
For further information and/or inquiries, email Dr. Wendy Guan at wguan@cga.harvard.edu