US Covid hospitalisations soar as new cases top 100,000 a day

[WOODSIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA] Coronavirus patients are filling hospital beds across the US Midwest, with Illinois and Michigan hospitalising about 100 Covid-19 cases a day, and North Dakota and South Dakota reporting almost a fifth of its inpatients having the pandemic disease.

Illinois admitted an average of 131 Covid-19 cases a day to hospitals over the past week, while admissions to Michigan hospitals averaged 95 cases. Elsewhere, Florida topped the country after hospitalising an average of 136 Covid-19 patients daily in the same period, according to Department of Health and Human Services data analyzed by Bloomberg News.

Nationwide, 58,678 beds were occupied by Covid-19 patients, the data showed. Almost 11,000 patients are being treated in intensive care units, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

Hospitalisations have soared as daily Covid-19 cases topped 100,000 in the US this week. Admissions increased more than 30 per cent in Michigan, Florida, and Ohio, and more than 20 per cent in Minnesota, Illinois, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Missouri from Oct 30 to Nov 6, government data indicated.

Texas had 6,377 Covid-19 patients in hospital as of Friday, more than any other state, with hospitalisations increasing 6.7 per cent over the past week.

Covid-19 cases make up 10 per cent or more of all hospitalised patients in 18 states. These are the eight states that have the highest proportion of Covid-19 inpatients as of Friday, with Midwest states making up six of them.

BLOOMBERG