FIGURE 1—

Community Statistics for (a) Observed COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake and (b) Recorded Cases of COVID-19 per 100 000 Population: Rhode Island, March 1, 2020–September 18, 2021

Note. The figure shows the observed data for the 57 communities that we used to fit our model in each stage of the analysis. The horizontal axes spans March 1, 2020 (week 10), to September 18, 2021 (week 90). Tiers refer to the 3-tier community risk classification system developed by the Rhode Island Department of Health to help guide COVID-19 surveillance and response efforts. Tier 1 included communities at highest risk for COVID-19 and tier 3 included communities at lowest risk (see Methods). In each panel, lines representing community-level metrics are colored by tier assignment. Vaccine uptake is measured as the proportion of the population with at least 1 dose of an approved vaccine, while cases are measured as recorded case counts per 100 000 population.

^aUnder limited vaccine supply, adult residents of Central Falls became eligible for vaccination nearly 3 months earlier than residents of other tier 1 communities (and nearly 4 months earlier than residents statewide) because of periods with exceptionally high prevaccine case, hospitalization, and mortality rates.