U.S. Covid Hospitalizations Set New Record — Especially In These States

Topline

The number of Americans hospitalized with Covid-19 soared to record levels Tuesday, as the country faces a surge in coronavirus infections driven by the omicron variant — and some states are bracing for dangerous hospital capacity problems and staffing shortages.

Medical workers don new PPE in the Covid-19 ward at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ campus … [+] in Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood on Tuesday.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Some 145,982 Americans with Covid-19 were hospitalized Tuesday, surpassing the previous record of more than 142,000 coronavirus hospitalizations in January 2021, according to data compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services.

People with Covid-19 occupy 20.7% of U.S. inpatient beds, and a total of 555,883 patients with and without Covid-19 are using up 77.8% of the nation’s hospital capacity.

Maryland — which declared a state of emergency due to soaring hospitalizations last week — has fewer spare hospital beds than any other state, with 86.1% of its total inpatient beds in use, followed by Washington (85%), Massachusetts (84.4%), Pennsylvania (84.4%), Minnesota (84%), Rhode Island (83.9%) and Georgia (83.8%).

Maryland also leads the nation in the share of total beds used for Covid-19, at 37.1%, followed by New York (29.9%), New Jersey (28.6%), Georgia (26.6%), Pennsylvania (26.5%), Ohio (26.5%), Connecticut (26.2%), Illinois (25.7%) and Delaware (25.5%).

Some intensive care units are also facing pressure: About 80.8% of nationwide ICU beds are in use, and ICUs are at more than 90% of capacity in Rhode Island (95.7%), Kentucky (90.9%), Texas (90.6%) and New Mexico (90.2%), an improvement from mid-September, when seven states were using up more than nine in 10 of their ICU beds.

Coronavirus patients are taking up 30.8% of total bed space in U.S. hospital ICUs, led by Maryland (44.2%), Rhode Island (42.4%) and Missouri (40.8%) — 12 states were above 40% in mid-September, with Idaho using 60.8% of its ICU beds for the coronavirus.

Surprising Fact

Many hospitals are also grappling with staffing shortfalls as personnel get sick with Covid-19, forcing healthcare facilities to slash capacity and cancel nonessential services. Almost 18% of hospitals nationwide told HHS they’re experiencing critical staffing shortages Tuesday, led by New Mexico (53.8%), Vermont (52.9%) and Rhode Island (50%).

Key Background

The United States has faced record-breaking numbers of Covid-19 infections in recent days, with daily new cases soaring 52% in one week as of Sunday. Experts have blamed this new wave on the coronavirus’ fast-moving omicron variant, which can elude people’s immune defenses and undermine the effectiveness of vaccines. Researchers say omicron is likely less severe than earlier forms of the virus, raising hopes that ICUs could avoid a capacity crisis, but hospitalizations have still risen as infections soar. In reaction, Maryland and Virginia have imposed states of emergency designed to boost hospital staffing levels, some hospitals in Delaware reoriented staffing and shifted to “crisis standards of care” on Monday, New York ordered dozens of hospitals to halt non-essential services last weekend, and Colorado on Friday cleared the way for ambulances to only transport the most severe patients.

Tangent

Child coronavirus hospitalizations have also jumped to their highest levels since the start of the pandemic in recent weeks, though hospitalization rates for adults and seniors remain significantly higher, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. This spike could be due to low child vaccination rates and the omicron variant’s increased infectiousness. But it could also be caused by omicron’s tendency to infect the upper airways instead of the lungs since children are more likely than adults to suffer complications from upper respiratory problems. Plus, Dr. Anthony Fauci said at a White House briefing two weeks ago that “many children are hospitalized” for other reasons and just happen to also have Covid-19, “ as opposed to because of Covid.”

Contra

The country has averaged 1,552 coronavirus deaths per day in the last week, well below a record 3,421 daily deaths in January 2021, according to the CDC. Still, deaths have jumped 31% in one week, and spikes in fatalities often lag behind jumps in infections.