April 5, 2022
COVID-19 hospitalizations across the U.S. are at their lowest numbers since the summer of 2020, when such national data first became available. As reported on modernhealthcare.com, the average number of people hospitalized in the U.S. with COVID-19 in the past week was 11,860, a more than 90% decrease compared to mid-January of 2022, when the number was more than 145,000. The previous record low was in June of 2021, before the Delta variant became the dominant strain. Additionally, COVID-19 patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) have dropped to fewer than 2,000.
This freed up hospital space is expected to help hospitals across the U.S. retain their staff, treat non-COVID-19 patients, cut down on costs, and return to family visitation. Additionally, hospitals and their staff hope the diminished COVID-19 stressors on the system and on patients will help to correct the declines in pediatric visits, yearly check-ups, and cancer screenings that were observed during the past two years.
University of South Florida Epidemiologist Jason Salemi was quoted on modernhealthcare.comsaying, "We should all be smiling that the number of people sitting in the hospital right now with COVID, and people in intensive care units with COVID, are at this low point," but that the nation "paid a steep price to get to this stage . . . A lot of people got sick and a lot of people died."
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