The death rate of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Pennsylvania during the first months of the pandemic was 16.3%.
This is much more than the 3% death rate for people hospitalized with regular flu in recent years, according to new research by the Pennsylvania Health Costs Containment Council.
PHC4 analyzed COVID-19 hospitalizations in Pennsylvania from March to June 2020. About 19,100 people were hospitalized during that time, which covered the peak of Pennsylvania’s first wave of COVID-19 infections. More than 3,100 patients died.
PHC4 compares the mortality rates of patients with COVID-19 to those of regular patients with influenza from 2017 to 2020. About three percent of patients with influenza died in each of those years.
The highest number of hospitalizations for influenza, 17,686, occurred in 2018. About 513 of these patients died.
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Pennsylvania saw a second increase in hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 starting last fall and continuing into 2021. The second increase was much more serious, with more illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths. The PHC4 survey looks at only the first outbreak.
The general thinking is that, throughout the pandemic, people have become less likely to die from COVID-19, for reasons that include better treatments and knowledge about how to take better care of them.
On Tuesday, 20,883 people died of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania.
PHC4 found that during the previous peak:
- COVID-19 patients spent an average of 8.8 days in the hospital, with about 17% being hospitalized two weeks or more;
- About 16% required a fan
Of the 19,177 people who were hospitalized:
- 2,614 were 85 or older, with about 28% dying;
- 3,420 were 75-84, with about 25% dying;
- 4,045 were 65-74, about 20% dying;
- 3,860 were 55-64, with about 12% dying;
- 2,373 were 45-54, about 8% dying;
- 1,384 were 35-44, with 3% dying;
- 956 were 25-34, with 1.4% dying;
- 330 were 18-24, with no mortality rate calculated because of the low volume;
- 194 were less than 18, with no calculated mortality rate.
The full report can be read at www.PHC4.com.