Twelve U. S. states U. S. cities have experienced moderate or very high coronavirus-related hospitalizations in the last week on record, according to new figures.
While there were about 19,700 new admissions with the virus in the U. S. U. S. U. S. data in the week ending Sept. 16, an overall drop of 4. 3% from last week, in five states increased by more than 20%. have declined, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased since last June, before peaking in early September, but remain well below the highest recorded peak of more than 150,600 patients in the week ending Jan. 15, 2021.
These localized increases come as some personal institutions, hospital operators, and schools in the U. S. become more likely to do so. The U. S. government has reintroduced a requirement for visitors to wear masks on its sites to restrict the spread of new variants: EG. 5 and BA. 2. 86.
On Sept. 15, the CDC said the latest variant “does not appear to accumulate or cause an accumulation of infections or hospitalizations” in the United States, and that existing antibodies confer Americans immunity to the new strain.
A company spokesperson told Newsweek that its genomic surveillance indicated that most of the infections were due “to strains very similar to the Omicron strains” circulating since early 2022.
The most recent figures show that the states that have experienced the fastest increase in cases requiring medical treatment are Montana and Wisconsin, both of which have seen an increase of about 30 percent more.
The largest increase was in New Hampshire, at 52%. Other states with a more than 20% increase in hospitalizations include North Dakota, Nebraska and Maine.
States that saw a 10-20% increase were Washington state, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa and Ohio. Many states and territories will have a robust number of hospital admissions with COVID-19 through the CDC, or are experiencing a decline in cases.
While the speed of increases in some states is likely a surprise, it’s likely because they account for a small number of hospital admissions. In New Hampshire, there have been just 76 hospitalizations in a week, out of a total of more than 18,200 since August 2020.
Nationally, there has only been a 0. 1 percent increase in the number of patients occupying ICU beds with COVID-19, which are the worst cases, requiring ventilation.
Although the number of deaths from the virus has increased since July (reaching 1,002 deaths recorded in the week leading up to September 2), provisional knowledge suggests that this overall figure is now declining and well below the highest peaks of the pandemic. The recorded deaths, only about 26,000, occurred in the first week of January 2021.
“Although rates now appear to be stabilizing, we are entering October, which is the typical start of the respiratory virus season,” a CDC spokesperson said. “Even if hospitalization rates stabilize for a few weeks, they may simply increase in the coming weeks, and prevention remains the strategy.
“CDC’s guidance for individual and networked action around COVID-19 is tied to hospital admission levels, which are ultimately low in more than 89% of the country. “
Update 09/27/23, 12:22 p. m. ET: This article was updated with a comment from a CDC spokesperson.