A registered nurse sees a Covid-19 patient at the Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California, on January 11.
Photographer: Ariana Drehsler / AFP via Getty Images
Photographer: Ariana Drehsler / AFP via Getty Images
The number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 has been virtually stable in the United States this week and is likely to start decreasing for the first time since September.
The numbers are now falling compared to the previous week, both in the Northeast and in the Midwest, according to the Covid Tracking Project. In the West, they rose 0.8%, the lowest since October 1 in percentage terms. The South has the most alarming momentum, up 4.2% from seven days earlier.
The most recent pandemic wave has overwhelmed medical facilities, which are desperate for relief. Hospitals across the country currently serve more than 130,000 Covid patients, according to data from the Tracking Project, more than double the load at any previous point.
Pace of hospitalization in the USA
Weekly change in people currently hospitalized with Covid-19
Source: The COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic
While encouraging, the trend reflects an extremely fast slowdown – and may not last. The holiday incubation period is now over, and crowds unmasked at the United States Capitol and large crowds celebrating a football victory in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have probably spread the virus in recent days. At least 10 states have reported a total of 72 cases of a new, more contagious variant.
The country recorded 213,885 cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, bringing the seven-day average to 246,133, data from the Covid Tracking Project show.
At least 380,825 people died, according to Data from Johns Hopkins University.
According to the data of the Tracking Project:
- No state reported record cases on Tuesday.
- Arizona has the highest number of residents hospitalized with the virus per capita, at 698 per million.
- Arizona also had the highest number of new cases per million, 1,176, followed by Wyoming.