COVID-19 hospitalizations are up 20 percent nationwide over the last 14 days, with 39 states and Washington, D.C., reporting an increase.
Nationwide, COVID-19 cases increased 58 percent over the past 14 days, according to HHS data collected by The New York Times. Reported case counts may be directionally helpful at this point of the pandemic, given the use of rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests that result in under-counting.
“I think that we’re dramatically undercounting cases,” former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, told CBS News April 11. “We’re probably only picking up one in seven or one in eight infections.”
Hospitalizations are up 20 percent nationwide over the last 14 days, with a daily average of 19,694 people hospitalized with COVID-19 as of May 12. The CDC is keeping a close eye on the acuity of hospitalizations, with Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, noting that the agency is seeing less oxygen use, fewer ICU stays and no increase in associated death compared with earlier periods of the pandemic.
Here are the 14-day changes for hospitalizations in each state and Washington, D.C., reporting an increase, along with their daily average hospitalizations:
Hawaii: 64 percent (92 hospitalizations)
Maine: 61 percent (222)
Montana: 58 percent (25)
Massachusetts: 55 percent (703)
Pennsylvania: 47 percent (1,104)
Alaska: 45 percent (38)
Connecticut: 42 percent (337)
Michigan: 42 percent (812)
Rhode Island: 40 percent (87)
Wisconsin: 39 percent (314)
Delaware: 37 percent (188)
Iowa: 36 percent (113)
New Hampshire: 35 percent (112)
New York: 31 percent (2,627)
Virginia: 31 percent (383)
Minnesota: 28 percent (404)
Florida: 28 percent (1,380)
New Jersey: 27 percent (707)
Maryland: 25 percent (458)
West Virginia: 24 percent (120)
Illinois: 23 percent (815)
Nevada: 23 percent (161)
Ohio: 22 percent (734)
Oregon: 20 percent (284)
Kentucky: 19 percent (249)
Washington, D.C.: 19 percent (84)
Colorado: 18 percent (170)
Vermont: 17 percent (64)
Indiana: 15 percent (297)
California: 14 percent (1,463)
South Carolina: 13 percent (127)
Louisiana: 11 percent (65)
Kansas: 7 percent (79)
Georgia: 5 percent (576)
North Carolina: 5 percent (877)
Utah: 4 percent (72)
Idaho: 4 percent (45)
Missouri: 3 percent (384)
Nebraska: 2 percent (76)
Arkansas: 2 percent (97)
The 14-day changes for cases in each state reporting an increase, along with their daily average cases, can be found through HHS data collected by The New York Times here. Seven-day changes for cases in each state can be found here.
The more contagious omicron subvariant BA.2 makes up 68.1 percent of new cases in the U.S., according to the latest estimates from the CDC. New Jersey has the highest proportion of BA.2 cases of all states, according to the latest ranking of states by the subvariant’s prevalence.
President Joe Biden signed into law March 15 a sweeping $1.5 trillion bill that funds the government through September. The legislation did not include COVID-19 funding the White House had requested from Congress because of partisan disagreement about offsetting the funding.
The current lack of funding is affecting resources for COVID-19 testing and treatment. The Health Resources and Services Administration stopped accepting providers’ claims for COVID-19 testing and treatment of the uninsured March 22 because of a lack of sufficient funds, and stopped accepting claims for the vaccination of uninsured people April 5. The federal government is also cutting back shipments of monoclonal antibody treatments to states by 30 percent, and the U.S. supply of those treatments could run out as soon as May.
HENRY KOTULA 