It’s finally happening. The zombie apocalypse is nigh. We’ve been waiting for this day to come, which is why we’re hunkered in our bunker with a bunch of weaponry and a lot of canned food. How did we know it was coming? That’s easy: we just tracked the incidence rate, which tells us how many new cases of a disease (in this case, WhiteWalker zombie-itis) are diagnosed within a given time period. As the incidence rate increased, so did our stockpiling efforts, and now, here we are, safe and sound with our rocket launcher and creamed corn.
Incidence rates are really helpful in tracking disease progression and treatment. But they’re also helpful outside of the medical field. When the economy started recessing in 2007, for example, one of the things analysts looked at was the foreclosure incidence rate. In other words, they tried to figure out whether the number of initiated foreclosures was increasing or decreasing as time went on.
They also looked at localized incidence rates: were more people losing their homes in certain areas? Were people working in certain industries more prone to foreclosure? An increasing incidence rate means something is becoming more prevalent, while a decreasing incidence rate means the problem is diminishing.
As for us, we’re waiting for word that the zombie-itis incidence rate has dropped to zero before we’ll feel safe emerging from our underground creamed corn paradise.