![]() ![]() NOTES: Population data for counties are for the year 2018, the latest available year in the ACS. SOURCES: USA Facts (accessed July 1), American Community Survey, Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data, the Covid Tracking Project and authors’ calculations. Using the maximum two-week change allows us to account for variations in the timing of peak cases across counties. This measure of hospitalizations is intended to highlight the areas that have been most impacted by COVID-19 throughout the US. The average share of COVID-19 cases requiring hospitalizations is calculated using daily data from 35 reporting states. Data on state-level hospitalization is from the Covid Tracking Project. We find that, on average, 12 out of 100 COVID-19 cases require hospitalization. This probability is calculated as the national average of hospitalizations per case. To calculate the number of hospitalizations at the county level, we assume a 12% probability of hospitalization conditional on being infected. Rural Areasįigure 1 shows the geographic distribution of the largest increase in estimated hospitalizations per 10,000 people during any given two-week period through June 30. A recent report by the Chartis Center for Rural Health (PDF) found that approximately one-quarter of rural hospitals are vulnerable to closure. This is particularly true for rural hospitals. The strain on hospitals is also financially due to declines in elective procedures. However, about one-quarter of counties are at risk of overcapacity in the event of future surge in cases. did not reach maximum capacity during their respective peak growth in COVID-19 cases. Our analysis indicates that most counties in the U.S. In this article, we examine one of the constraints on hospitals-specifically their capacity of beds-and the geographic disparities across the country. While the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 is of historic magnitude for the U.S., many health care systems around the nation have been able to manage the caseload and treat patients during crisis. (2020) for a discussion of optimal policies for managing the public health and economic trade-offs. Although these polices have shown to be effective in managing the health crisis, they come at a great economic cost. Many states initially imposed stay-at-home orders, continuing to limit business activity in order to slow the spread of the virus and reduce the strain on health care systems. As COVID-19 spreads rapidly around the country, a major concern has been the ability of hospitals to admit and care for patients.
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