With micron increase, US breaks record for hospitalizations for COVID-19, says agency

Washington – hospitalization for COVID-19 we United State It hit a record high on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, with an increase in infections from the highly contagious variant Omicron It affects health systems in several states.

132,646 people have been hospitalized with the coronavirus, surpassing the record number of 132,051 in January last year. The number of hospital admissions has been rising steadily since late December, doubling over the past three weeks as Ômicron quickly overtakes Delta as the dominant version of the virus in the United States.

Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, the territory of Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C. have reported record levels of hospitalized Covid-19 patients. Recently, according to a Reuters analysis.

Health officials have warned that the high number of infections caused by the Ômicron variant, although potentially less serious, could overwhelm hospital systems. Some have already suspended elective procedures as they struggle to deal with the surge in patients amid staff shortages.

The seven-day average of new cases has doubled over the past 10 days to 704,000. The United States has recorded an average of more than half a million cases in the past six days in a row, according to a Reuters tally.

Only seven states had record numbers of Covid-19 cases in 2022 — Arizona, Idaho, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio and Wyoming, according to a Reuters count.

Washington DC has led since last week in the number of new infections based on population, followed by Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont. Deaths average 1,700 per day, up from about 1,400 in recent days, but within levels seen in December./ Reuters