[ad_1]
“In the first half of April 2020, mortality was significantly higher than the average from 2015 to 2019. After measures to contain the pandemic were introduced, it fell to the expected level,” said the Director General of Statistics Austria, Tobias Thomas, explaining the figures. “The fact that the total number of deaths in the year to date is only slightly higher than the previous year’s average is due in particular to the summer with less extreme heat waves and a relatively low death rate.”
Salzburg’s death rate is well above average
The increase in deaths affected mainly men with a plus of 5.3 percent, with women there was an increase of 0.8 percent. There were more deaths in seven federal states than in the same period from 2015 to 2019. The federal states of Salzburg (plus 6.4 percent), Tyrol (plus 5.6 percent), Styria (plus 4.6 percent) and Vienna (plus 3.8 percent). In Burgenland with minus 0.1 percent and in Carinthia with minus 1.1 percent, on the other hand, the number of deaths in the first 41 calendar weeks of 2020 was even lower than the average for the same period.
Deaths are subject to seasonal fluctuations
However, if mortality rates are adjusted for age structure and population growth, it becomes clear that, despite a provisional increase in mortality, the values were within the range of the last five years or even below, as Statistics Austria emphasized. The number of deaths is also subject to seasonal fluctuations, which are caused by various environmental influences, such as heat waves, human behavior, or the seasonal appearance of waves of disease. In particular, annual flu waves regularly cause particularly high death rates in the individual weeks of the first trimester, after which the number of deaths and their range of fluctuation tend to decrease, before the weeks with the highest mortality can occur. again in mid summer due to heat waves.
Statistics Austria is also publishing an interactive map and charts for weekly death statistics on a weekly basis. This should provide up-to-date information to the public, health policy, and research on the current pandemic. The latest results are currently available up to calendar week 39 (including September 27). For weeks 40 and 41 of the calendar (up to and including October 11) there are also initial results at a less detailed level.
(Those: APA)
