New COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rocket Higher

Patients with COVID-19 poured into U.S. hospitals in the week ending Jan. 2. Many were hoping that vaccination campaigns, and the possible mildness of the new COVID-19 omicron variant, would keep a big increase in the number of cases from leading to a big increase in the number of hospital admissions. But the number of new hospital admissions of patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 increased to 103,435, or 27 hospital admissions per 100,000 U.S. residents. Roughly 1 in 3,700 U.S. residents entered a hospital with COVID-19 last week. The number of new hospitalizations was 63% higher than in the previous week, and the seven-day total was close to the pandemic period of 115,477, which was recorded during the second deadly U.S. COVID-19 surge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the office of the Department of Health and Human Services' assistant secretary for preparedness and response published the hospitalization data in the data tables accompanying a Community Profile Report posted Jan. 5. A chart in the report, which includes data recorded by Jan. 5, shows the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 each day rising sharply after Jan. 1.

The Context

COVID-19 surges can hurt health insurers by driving up direct COVID-19 care costs; help health insurers by crowding out other types of health care; and possibly hurt health insurers in the future by leading patients to go without preventive care and ordinary health care. The surges can hurt life insurers and disability insurers by increasing the number of people who die or suffer from disabilities. In some cases, surges may cut costs for pension plans, long-term care insurance issuers and long-term disability insurers, by shortening the lives of people who are collecting benefits. Hospitalizations do not necessarily lead to death. The current ratio of deaths to new hospitalizations is 1 death per week per 12.7 hospitalizations per week.

The State Numbers

The typical state reported about 953 new COVID-19 hospitalizations for the week ending Jan. 2, up 39% from the total recorded the previous week. The number of COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 residents ranged from 6.3 in Alaska to 56.3 in New Jersey. The percentage change in the number of admissions ranged from a decrease of 10% in Alaska up to an increase of 175% in Mississippi, according to the Community Profile Report. For a look at the five states with the biggest percentage increases in the number of new COVID-19 hospital admissions, see the gallery above. The gallery also includes a national hospitalization rate chart and a state hospitalization rate map. We have not included figures for the District of Columbia and territories, because they tend to differ from states in terms of situations and data reporting capabilities. But the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands each faced more COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 residents than any state. The admission rate was 87.8 admissions per 100,000 residents in the District of Columbia and 243 admissions per 100,000 residents in the Northern Mariana Islands. For data on the number of new COVID-19 hospitalizations each jurisdiction reported for the week ending Jan. 2, along with the percentage change from the previous week, see the table below.

New COVID-19 Hospitalizations