An opportunity exists for the addition of statistical measures to aid in Center for Disease Control & Prevention’s fulfilment of its goals for COVID-19 surveillance. The average lifetime lost (ALL) statistic attempts to measure the loss caused by a disease. This statistic will give another way to judge how deadly or benign, in an average sense, a disease is. This statistic may lower population anxiety by objectively demonstrating that the actual lifetime shortening effect of a disease is quite small. It will also give a way to make meaningful comparisons between different groups, diseases and treatment strategies.
Below the ALL statistic is defined and an example calculation is given for the COVID-19 data for Georgia, USA, using the official data from the Georgia Department of Public Health as of May 22, 2020 at 19:00.
Assume the existence of a population p= {I1,I2,…,In} of n infected individuals who have contracted…