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Respiratory viruses leading to highest hospital bed usage since January, but ICUs not yet flooded

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* CNN

Hospitals are more full than they’ve been throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Department of Health and Human Services. But as respiratory virus season surges across the US, it’s much more than Covid that’s filling beds this year.

More than 80% of hospital beds are in use nationwide, jumping 8 percentage points in the past two weeks.

Hospitals have been required to report capacity information since mid-2020 as part of a federal effort to track the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hospitals have been more than 70% full for the vast majority of that time. But they’ve been 80% full at only one other point: in January, during the height of the Omicron surge in the US.

The broader respiratory virus season is in full swing across the US. All but six states are experiencing “high” or “very high” respiratory virus as seasonal flu activity remains “high and continues to increase,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

* Illinois hospitals are now at 82 percent capacity, according to IDPH. Only 5.7 percent of those beds are being taken up by COVID patients.

The last time utilization was this high was back on January 4th, when 5,344 beds were available during the Omicron surge. There are just 5,435 hospital beds available in Illinois today.

On that same day in January, just 260 intensive care beds were available. Today, that number is 403.

…Adding… By the way, the governor’s executive orders that the IPI and pointy wires constantly complain about allow IDFPR to approve out of state and inactive healthcare professionals to work in Illinois at a time when hospitals are still bleeding workers.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Dec 8, 22 @ 3:15 pm

Comments

  1. Yikes getting scary again and flu remedies are wiped out at stores as well. Another holiday season where my anxiety is going to interfere with having fun around a bunch of people in the same house.

    Comment by Baloneymous Thursday, Dec 8, 22 @ 3:22 pm

  2. Get your bivalent booster and flu shot if you haven’t yet.

    Comment by Big Dipper Thursday, Dec 8, 22 @ 3:56 pm

  3. even some of those with all the available shots are getting really bad colds that have nothing to do with covid or the flu. some think that because we’ve been masking up we have largely avoided colds and now they are bouncing back big. hot toddy……

    Comment by Amalia Thursday, Dec 8, 22 @ 4:13 pm

  4. My wife works for a major healthcare organization in the area and she has insight into bed utilization in real time. Her exact words to me every day are “Don’t get sick.” No beds in Wisconsin. Anywhere.

    Comment by Pingu Thursday, Dec 8, 22 @ 4:17 pm

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