COVID-19 caused 19 new hospital admissions per 100 U.S. inpatient hospital beds in the week ending Nov. 27, according to federal government COVID-19 tracking data. The state-level COVID-19 hospitalization rate for that week ranged from six per 100 inpatient beds, in Hawaii, up to a high of 34 admissions per 100 inpatient beds, in one state. The median COVID-19 hospitalization rate was 18 admissions per 100 beds. A public health advisory team compiled the COVID-19 hospitalization data for a weekly White House Coronavirus Task Force pandemic report. The task force does not make the weekly reports available to the public. It does give the reports to state governments, and some states post copies of the reports for their own states on their websites. The Center for Public Integrity has started getting and posting copies of the full, 50-state version of the reports. Observers say one problem with using hospitalization data as a pandemic severity indicator is that hospitalization rates may fall in states with the most severe COVID-19 outbreaks, as hospitals cope with a flood of new patients by tightening admission standards. In some cases, COVID-19 may strain hospitals in ways that affect all patients' access to hospital care. Another challenge is that mortality rates for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 may be changing over time, as treatment strategies change and, possibly, as strains of the virus that causes COVID-19 to evolve. The United States reported about 7.4 COVID-19 deaths in the week ending Nov. 27 for every 100 new COVID-19 hospitalizations that occurred that week. For a look at the five states with the highest COVID-19 hospitalization rates in the week ending Nov. 27, see the slideshow above. Related: |

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