Fifteen U. S. states U. S. states experienced a moderate or very extensive increase in coronavirus-related hospitalizations in the last week on record, over the past seven days, according to maps from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
There were 35,081 new COVID-19 admissions across the U.S. in the week ending January 6—an overall rise of 3.2 percent on the previous week. These increases were higher among states in New England, the Southeast and Northwest—regions that have been hit with brutally cold winter storms in recent weeks.
Health officials had expected hospitalizations to rise in the winter months. Colder weather tends to lead to more spread of viruses and other infections because immunity is lower. A 2020 study suggests that the COVID virus would possibly remain active longer in cold weather. , dry conditions.
High infections of respiratory illnesses such as COVID and the flu have prompted some hospitals in densely populated spaces to impose new mask mandates.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have been on the rise since last June before peaking in early September. They then declined slightly before starting to increase in November and December, and in January. The levels remain well below the highest peak on record of more than 150,600 patients in the week ending Jan. 15, 2022.
The latest figures, released Tuesday, show New Hampshire saw the largest increase in hospitalizations, up 61. 5% from last week.
Montana saw a weekly increase of 40. 4%, while in Arkansas, Hawaii and Texas, virus-related hospitalizations increased by more than 30%. Rhode Island saw a 26. 1% increase in hospitalizations.
Other states in New England, the Deep South, and Washington and Idaho in the Northwest saw a moderation of more than 10% from last week.
In many other states, hospitalization numbers were considered robust (meaning rates showed slight increases or decreases of less than 10 percent) or were lower than those recorded last week. The only state that saw a very broad 40 percent reduction in hospital admissions is North Dakota. .
While the magnitude of the increases in some states might seem surprising, they make up a relatively small number of hospital admissions. In New Hampshire, there have only been 189 hospitalizations in a week, out of a total of 19,731 since August 2020.
At the same time, New England states saw the highest proportion of positive COVID tests.
Two CDC administrative regions, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, had an overall positivity rate above 15%. Other regions had positive rates between five percent and 14. 9 percent. .
There were only two states where COVID was the cause of more than 6% of deaths in the previous week: Kentucky, where it caused 9. 6% of deaths in the state in the week ending Jan. 6, and Oklahoma, where it caused 6. 2% of deaths. muertes. de death.
In many other eastern states, COVID has contributed to less than 6% of deaths, while many Midwestern states have recorded that it killed fewer than 10 more people in the last week on record.
Aleks Phillips is an American journalist for Newsweek founded in London. It focuses on U. S. policy and the environment. U. S. He has extensively covered weather updates, as well as healthcare and crime. Aleks joined Newsweek in 2023 from the Daily Express and in the past worked for Chemist and Druggist and the Jewish Chronicle. He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge. Languages: English.
You can reach Aleks by emailing aleks. phillips@newsweek. com.