COVID-19 hospitalizations — which are less sensitive to holiday-related data lags than positivity rates, case counts or deaths — are up in more than half the United States and have doubled over the past two weeks in six states and Washington, D.C.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have increased 35 percent nationwide over the past 14 days, while case counts increased 204 percent in the same time frame, according to HHS data presented by The New York Times.
Nationwide, the seven-day average for COVID-19 hospitalizations was 93,322 as of Jan. 2. That's about 38 percent lower than the pandemic high recorded in January 2021 and 12 percent lower than the peak of the delta wave in late August 2021.
The New Year's holiday caused reporting gaps and backlogs throughout this week for testing, case and death numbers. Hospitalizations are the one data point that is less volatile to holiday slowdowns, given that hospitals do not get holidays off.
Here are the 14-day changes for hospitalizations in each state, according to HHS data presented by The New York Times:
Louisiana: 284 percent
District of Columbia: 250 percent
Florida: 203 percent
Hawaii: 181 percent
Georgia: 123 percent
New Jersey: 112 percent
Mississippi: 111 percent
Alabama: 86 percent
New York: 74 percent
South Carolina: 71 percent
Texas: 70 percent
Virginia: 62 percent
Maryland: 61 percent
Connecticut: 53 percent
Illinois: 52 percent
California: 49 percent
Tennessee: 43 percent
Massachusetts: 38 percent
Delaware: 28 percent
Washington: 25 percent
Missouri: 23 percent
Oklahoma: 23 percent
Nevada: 21 percent
Kentucky: 21 percent
Rhode Island: 20 percent
Ohio: 15 percent
Kansas: 13 percent
Pennsylvania: 12 percent
Arkansas: 10 percent
West Virginia: 6 percent
North Carolina: 6 percent
Oregon: 5 percent
Wisconsin: 2 percent
Indiana: 1 percent
Montana: -4 percent
Colorado: -6 percent
Vermont: -7 percent
Iowa: -8 percent
Utah: -8 percent
South Dakota: -9 percent
Michigan: -10 percent
Arizona: -10 percent
North Dakota: -13 percent
Idaho: -13 percent
Minnesota: -13 percent
Nebraska: -13 percent
New Hampshire: -15 percent
Maine: -18 percent
Alaska: -18 percent
New Mexico: -21 percent
Wyoming: -32 percent