In Moment of Respite, Covid Hospitalizations Fall in 36 States

(Bloomberg) -- Covid-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. are now falling in 36 states as preliminary signs of relief spread across the country.

In 11 states, current hospitalizations with Covid are down more than 10% from a week earlier, while the other 25 saw more modest declines, according to Covid Tracking Project data. Only Vermont has seen hospitalizations increase more than 10% in the period.

Cases and positivity rates across the country are also showing hints of a retreat, albeit from dangerous peaks.

Despite the early indications of a shift, the nation faces perilous uncertainty. A fast-spreading new variant of the virus has begun circulating, and holiday gatherings created the conditions for Covid to spread even further. The number of people currently hospitalized with the virus, although dropping, is still more than twice as high as during any previous pandemic wave. And deaths, which lag cases and hospitalizations, are averaging more than 3,000 a day and projected to remain elevated for weeks.

But data on current hospitalizations have been among the most reliable statistics during the pandemic. Among regions, the South is the only one where hospitalizations are up from a week ago, having climbed 0.4%, according to Covid Tracking Project data.

Meanwhile, states have had a bumpy start to the vaccination push, with only 3.61 doses administered per 100 people in the U.S., according to data collected by Bloomberg.

The U.S. posted 235,448 new cases on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The seven-day average fell for the third day to 247,490. There have been almost 389,000 deaths as of early Friday, the data show.

According to Covid Tracking Project data:

• On a per capita basis, Arizona has the most people hospitalized with the virus.
• Alabama has reported the most deaths per capita in the past week.
• No states have reported record cases thus far this week.