Newly released data from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows more than 85% of hospitals nationwide had more patients with Covid-19 last week than they did a month ago.
Overall, about 1 in 5 hospital inpatients were confirmed to have Covid-19 last week – nearly double from a month earlier.
Among America’s 10 largest cities, the share of hospital patients with Covid-19 ranged from about 9% in New York to 23% in Chicago.
They are: New York, 9%; Los Angeles, 16%; Chicago, 23%; Houston, 11%; Phoenix, 22%; Philadelphia, 22%; San Antonio, 16%; San Diego, 16%; Dallas, 20%; San Jose, 19%.
But in smaller cities the situation can be even worse. In El Paso, Texas, for example, more than 50% of patients in city hospitals were confirmed to have Covid-19 – nearly double the national average for the seven-day period between November 27 and December 3.
HHS had previously reported Covid-19 hospitalization data at the state level, but this dataset – released Monday – is the first from the national government to report local, facility-level data.