COVID-19 Forecasts: Deaths

Reported and forecasted new and total COVID-19 deaths as of November 29, 2021.

Interpretation of Forecasts of New and Total Deaths

• This week's national ensemble predicts that the number of newly reported COVID-19 deaths will likely increase over the next 4 weeks, with 6,200 to 11,400 new deaths likely reported in the week ending December 25, 2021. The national ensemble predicts that a total of 805,000 to 817,000 COVID-19 deaths will be reported by this date.
• The state- and territory-level ensemble forecasts predict that over the next 4 weeks, the number of newly reported deaths per week will likely increase in 2 jurisdictions and decrease in 3 jurisdictions, which are indicated in the forecast plots below. Trends in numbers of future reported deaths are uncertain or predicted to remain stable in the other states and territories.
• Current forecasts are likely impacted by abnormal delays in reporting due to the Thanksgiving holiday and should be interpreted with caution.
• Ensemble forecasts combine diverse independent team forecasts into one forecast. They have been among the most reliable forecasts in performance over time, but even the ensemble forecasts do not reliably predict rapid changes in the trends of reported cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. They should not be relied upon for making decisions about the possibility or timing of rapid changes in trends.

National Forecast

• The figures show the number of new (top row) and total (bottom row) COVID-19 deaths reported in the United States each week from September 25 through November 27 and forecasted over the next 4 weeks, through December 25.
• This week, 22 modeling groups contributed a forecast that was eligible for inclusion in the new or total deaths ensemble forecasts for at least one jurisdiction.
• Models make various assumptions about the levels of social distancing and other interventions, which may not reflect recent changes in behavior. See model descriptions below for details on the assumptions and methods used to produce the forecasts.

Download national forecast data excel icon [XLS - 16 KB]

State Forecasts

State-level forecasts show the predicted number of new COVID-19 deaths for the next 4 weeks by state. Each state forecast figure uses a different scale due to differences in the number of COVID-19 deaths between states and only forecasts meeting a set of ensemble inclusion criteria are shown. Further details are available here: https://covid19forecasthub.org/doc/ensemble/external icon . Plots of the state-level ensemble forecast and the underlying data can be downloaded below.

Download state forecasts pdf icon [PDF - 1 MB]

Download forecast data excel icon [CSV - 697 KB]

Additional forecast data and information on forecast submission are available at the COVID-19 Forecast Hubexternal icon .

Forecast Inclusion, Evaluation, and Assumptions

Forecasts are listed when they meet a set of submission and data quality requirements and a subset are included in the ensemble. Further details are available here: https://covid19forecasthub.org/doc/ensembleexternal icon .

Ensemble and individual team forecast performance is evaluated using a variety of metrics, including the assessment of prediction interval coverage, available at https://delphi.cmu.edu/forecast-eval/external icon .

The forecasts make different assumptions about social distancing measures. Additional individual model details are available here: https://github.com/cdcepi/COVID-19-Forecasts/blob/master/COVID-19_Forecast_Model_Descriptions.md.external icon Details on the ensemble's accuracy in short-term predictions and its usefulness as a real-time tool to help guide policy and planning can be found here: Ensemble Forecasts of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S.external icon

Intervention assumptions fall into multiple categories:

• These modeling groups assume that existing social distancing measures will continue through the projected 4-week time period:
  • AIpertexternal icon (Model: AIpert)
  • Bob Paganoexternal icon (Model: BPagano)
  • Discrete Dynamical Systemsexternal icon (Model: DDS)
  • Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Computingexternal icon (Model: GT-DeepCOVID)
  • IEMexternal icon (Model: IEM)
  • Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Labexternal icon (Model: JHU-APL)
  • Johns Hopkins University, Center for Systems Science and Engineeringexternal icon (Model: JHU-CSSE)
  • Karlen Working Groupexternal icon (Model: Karlen)
  • Masaryk Universityexternal icon (Model: Masaryk)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cassandraexternal icon (Model: MIT-Cassandra)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute for Data, Systems, and Societyexternal icon (Model: MIT-ISOLAT)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laboratory of Computational Physiologyexternal icon (Model: MIT-LCP)
  • Qi-Jun Hongexternal icon (Model: QJHong)
  • Robert Walravenexternal icon (Model: ESG)
  • Steve McConnellexternal icon (Model: CovidComplete)
  • University of California, San Diego and Northeastern Universityexternal icon (Model: UCSD-NEU)
  • University of Massachusetts, Amherstexternal icon (Model: UMass-MB)
  • University of Michiganexternal icon (Model: UM)
  • University of Southern Californiaexternal icon (Model: USC)

¹ The full range of the prediction intervals is not visible for all state plots. Please see the forecast data for the full range of state-specific prediction intervals.

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