Nearly one in five people with confirmed COVID-19 in the United States requires hospital care for the disease, with those with pre-existing health such as dementia or obesity at higher risk for serious illness.
July 13 (UPI) — Nearly one in five people with COVID-19 in the United States requires hospital care for the disease, with those with pre-existing health conditions such as dementia or obesity at higher risk for serious illness, an analysis published Tuesday by JAMA Network Open found. In addition, more than 20% of those hospitalized due to the coronavirus required intensive care treatment or ventilation support to breathe, or were discharged into hospice care, the data showed. Of those admitted to the hospital after infection between March and October of last year, about 12% died. However, the death rate among hospitalized patients declined to just under 9% by October from approximately 16% at the start of the pandemic as improved treatment approaches emerged. Since Aug.1, about 2.3 million people in the United States have been hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 604,000 people with COVID-19 died in the United States over the course of the pandemic, the agency said.
