Covid hospitalisation rates by ethnicity in New Zealand as at 7th February 2022:

Ethnicity Total cases Cases who have been hospitalised Hospitalisation rate
Asian 1,528 30 2.0%
Māori 5,350 247 4.6%
Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA) 211 10 4.7%
European or Other 2,434 130 5.3%
Pacific peoples 3,654 216 5.9%
Unknown 89 0 0.0%
Total 13,266 633 4.8%

  • The ICU rate is much lower at ~0.38 (68 ICU/17,988 total cases reported elsewhere on that source data page. We are seeking more information on why different total case numbers exist on that source data page.)
  • The mortality rate is 0.34% (if we use the deaths / (deaths + recovered) formula. Again we are seeking clarification on why different total case numbers exist in different tables on that source data page.)

What can we read into this data, if anything?

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NOTES:

  • The Ministry of Health data provides Covid case and hospitalisation numbers by ethnicity, but not the hospitalisation rate percentage which we have calculated by dividing hospitalisations by total cases.
  • We are not sure why the Ministry of Health puts “European” and “Other” together, but will ask this question.
  • The controversial prioritised ethnicity classification system is used by the Ministry of Health in this classification. This means each person is allocated to a single ethnic group, based on the ethnic groups they identify with. Where people identify with more than one group, they are assigned in this order of priority: Māori, Pacific Peoples, Asian, and European/Other. So, if a person identifies as being Māori and New Zealand European, the person is counted as Māori. See Ngā tapuae me ngā raraunga: Methods and data sources for further information.
  • Due to this prioritised ethnicity classification system, we have decided not to show totals by ethnicity as we believe they would be misleading.
  • We have not commented on any long-term side-effects from getting Covid, or not, as that is not yet well researched, understood, or published.
  • All numbers are provisional and subject to revision.
  • If you would like the full data analysis workings, please contact us.

SOURCE:

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-case-demographics

Data published by Ministry of Health
(c) Crown Copyright
Licensed for use under the creative commons attribution licence (BY) 4.0

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