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

x	Week ending Jan. 2
Jurisdiction	Confirmed COVID-19 Admissions, Previous 7 Days	Confirmed COVID-19 Admissions, Percent Change FROM PREVIOUS 7 DAYS
Alabama	1,090	124%
Alaska	46	-10%
American Samoa	0
Arizona	2,123	22%
Arkansas	641	51%
California	6,627	109%
Colorado	1,744	42%
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands	126	45%
Connecticut	1,416	99%
Delaware	298	9%
District of Columbia	620	101%
Florida	8,563	144%
Georgia	4,166	138%
Guam	31	72%
Hawaii	211	105%
Idaho	185	1%
Illinois	5,350	39%
Indiana	2,696	13%
Iowa	782	5%
Kansas	866	19%
Kentucky	1,641	24%
Louisiana	1,242	119%
Maine	224	2%
Maryland	2,787	81%
Massachusetts	1,977	52%
Michigan	3,362	20%
Minnesota	1,042	6%
Mississippi	681	175%
Missouri	2,056	37%
Montana	164	19%
Nebraska	374	17%
Nevada	852	45%
New Hampshire	311	3%
New Jersey	4,997	88%
New Mexico	429	5%
New York	9,372	81%
North Carolina	2,374	53%
North Dakota	173	32%
Ohio	6,044	35%
Oklahoma	1,171	22%
Oregon	381	41%
Pennsylvania	4,947	47%
Puerto Rico	385	173%
Rhode Island	298	73%
South Carolina	1,279	105%
South Dakota	225	6%
Tennessee	1,772	81%
Texas	8,682	111%
United States Virgin Islands	4	-33%
Utah	483	12%
Vermont	84	6%
Virginia	2,418	82%
Washington	953	66%
West Virginia	608	36%
Wisconsin	1,993	15%
Wyoming	69	-7%
MEDIAN	910	41%
TOTAL	103,435	x
Source: Community Profile Report (CDC-ASPR)

x x Pictured: Health care workers treat a patient on the COVID-19 ICU floor of the University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital in Worcester. (Photo: Allison Dinner/Bloomberg)