By Christopher Wolf October 30, 2023
Source: US News
Photo / Image Source: Unsplash,
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. remained relatively steady week over week following five weeks of larger declines, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The U.S. tallied about 16,200 new hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 over the seven days ending Oct. 21, according to provisional data – only 40 hospitalizations less than the total for the previous week and effectively pausing a downward trend that began after hospitalizations totaled close to 21,000 during the week ending Sept. 9. Hospitalizations dipped to a low point of approximately 6,300 in late June before starting to trend back up. Relative to population, data points to 4.9 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people for the week through Oct. 21. Among states and territories, Montana saw the highest rate over the week at 10 per 100,000. West Virginia (8.3), the District of Columbia (8.1), and Colorado (7.6) had the next-highest rates. Compared with the week prior, Mississippi had the highest percentage increase in its COVID-19 hospitalization rate at 45%, followed by Kansas (41%), Indiana (40%) and Iowa (32%).
Among patients visiting a subset of emergency departments, data indicates 1.3% were diagnosed with COVID-19 nationally – a rate down about 5% from the week before. New Mexico (3.1%), Colorado (2.4%) and Arizona (2.3%) saw the highest rates. Among U.S. counties – inclusive of areas like the District of Columbia, Guam and municipios in Puerto Rico – 33 were described by the CDC as having a “high” level of new COVID-19 hospital admissions in the week ending Oct. 21, with rates of 20 per 100,000 or higher. Weston County, Wyoming, was reported to have the highest rate at 57.7 per 100,000 people, followed by the Texas counties of Parmer and Deaf Smith, each at 39.1 per 100,000 people. Another 202 counties were said to have a “medium” level of COVID-19 hospital admissions, with rates between 10.0 and 19.9 per 100,000 people.
Notably, the CDC’s county hospital admission figures are calculated at the Health Service Area level, which can span multiple counties. This means counties within the same HSA will share the same admission rates in the data. Some areas also are listed as having insufficient data.
The counties with the highest rates of COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people:
Weston County, Wyoming (57.7)
Deaf Smith County, Texas (39.1)
Parmer County, Texas (39.1)
Alamosa County, Colorado (31.8)
Conejos County, Colorado (31.8)
Costilla County, Colorado (31.8)
Mineral County, Colorado (31.8)
Rio Grande County, Colorado (31.8)
Saguache County, Colorado (31.8)
Foster County, North Dakota (25.2)
Stutsman County, North Dakota (25.2)
Wells County, North Dakota (25.2)
Pike County, Kentucky (24.7)
Logan County, West Virginia (24.7)
Mingo County, West Virginia (24.7)
Park County, Montana (24.6)
Sweet Grass County, Montana (24.6)
Platte County, Wyoming (23.8)
Beckham County, Oklahoma (23.6)
Roger Mills County, Oklahoma (23.6)
Furnas County, Nebraska (23.4)
Harlan County, Nebraska (23.4)
Phelps County, Nebraska (23.4)
Beaverhead County, Montana (22.4)
Deer Lodge County, Montana (22.4)
Silver Bow County, Montana (22.4)
Because hospitalization rates are calculated per 100,000 people, it’s worth noting that even a relatively small number of hospitalizations can lead to a higher hospitalization rate for small communities.
Other measures also can give a sense of the current state of COVID-19. For example, though the CDC has ceased publishing a "community level" metric that incorporated COVID-19 case rates and hospital admissions – as well as the average percentage of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients – participating health departments submit the results of their sampling of wastewater for the virus to the CDC via the National Wastewater Surveillance System.
Since the U.S. passed 1 million cumulative deaths tied to COVID-19 in the spring of 2022, approximately 150,000 additional people have died in connection with the disease, according to provisional data from the CDC.
While the latest tallies are down from a recent peak of about 1,300 deaths in a week in September – and well below the maximum peak of around 26,000 deaths in a week in early 2021 – data indicates hundreds of people still have died in connection with COVID-19 of late. North Carolina saw 4% of its total deaths attributed to COVID-19 during the week ending Oct. 21, based on provisional data, with an additional 10 states seeing shares higher than the national percentage of 2.7%.
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