#CovidIsntOver Trends As Covid-19 Hospitalizations Rise By 8.6% – Forbes

Thanksgiving Holiday may further fuel the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) throughout the U.S. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Getty Images

Once again the hashtag #CovidIsntOver is trending on social media like X (formerly known as Twitter) because, you know, Covid-19 is certainly not over. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to spread throughout much of the U.S. since thats what tends to happen when a country doesnt do a whole lot to prevent a virus from spreading. And over the week from November 4 through 11, Covid-19-related hospitalizations increased by 8.6%, according the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

During that week, there were 16,239 such reported hospitalizations. If you look at the following map of the U.S. from the CDC, a number of counties are in orange, which means that they experienced a 20% or greater increase in hospitalizations during that week:

In that same time period, the numbers of Covid-19-related emergency room visits increased by 7.1% and Covid-19 related deaths by 9.1%. In addition, the percentage of Covid-19 that were positive bumped up by 0.1%. All of these number went in the wrong direction during that week and do not bode well for the Holiday season thats now upon us, assuming that you arent shaped like a ball and have spikes all over you.

Unfortunately, without any real national system in place for tracking new Covid-19 cases, the U.S. is sort of flying blind when it comes to SARS-CoV-2 activity. Since emergency room visits and hospitalizations tend to come at least a week or two after people have been infected, rises in such numbers mean that rises in SARS-CoV-2 activity probably occurred two or maybe even three or four weeks prior. And its a whole lot harder to prevent an upswing that has already been occurring after the fact, assuming that you dont have a DeLorean car that serves as a time machine. Basing Covid-19 prevention policies on hospitalizations and deaths alone would be sort of like showing people a burnt down house and saying, Do you think that we need to install some fire extinguishers in this house?

All of these numbers shouldnt be super-surprising since the past three Novembers since 2020 had all seen rises in Covid-19 cases. The arrival of colder and drier weather in the late Fall and Winter could further facilitate SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Moreover, with more and more activities moving indoors, more and more people could be interacting in closer and closer quarters, sharing their small talk, respiratory droplets and viruses. Plus, all the travel occurring from the Thanksgiving Holidays through New Years Day could be giving viruses free tickets to travel all over the country.

Now, its not as if the U.S. cant do anything to reduce the spread and impact of the SARS-CoV-2. Scientific studies have shown that wearing face masks while in crowded indoor settings can reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, as Ive covered for Forbes. Yet, posts on social media with the #CovidIsntOver hashtag have been pointing out how those wearing face masks have been feeling more and more like lone maskers:

The CDC has pointed out how improving air purification and ventilation can reduce the risk of COVID-19 as well:

Yet, its not clear how many businesses and other organizations are currently taking such steps to clear the air.

Then theres been the problems with the roll-out of the updated Covid-19 vaccine this Fall, the one that is targeted towards the more recent XBB Omicron subvariant. Only about 14.8% of all adults in the U.S. have gotten this updated Covid-19 vaccine so far, as I covered for Forbes last week. Therefore, many people may be running around with fairly low or even absent protections against Covid-19.

Therefore, if you want to reduce your risk of getting Covid-19 and long Covid or passing the virus along to others, you may be kind of on your own. Thats because the answer to the question, What is the U.S. collectively doing to prevent yet another Covid-19 surge this November and December is probably not a whole lot.

I am a writer, journalist, professor, systems modeler, computational, AI, and digital health expert, medical doctor, avocado-eater, and entrepreneur, not always in that order. Currently, I am a Professor of Health Policy and Management at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health, Executive Director of PHICOR (@PHICORteam) and Center for Advanced Technology and Communication in Health (CATCH), and founder and CEO of Symsilico. My previous positions include serving as Professor By Courtesy at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Executive Director of the Global Obesity Prevention Center (GOPC) at Johns Hopkins University, Associate Professor of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Associate Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh, and Senior Manager at Quintiles Transnational, working in biotechnology equity research at Montgomery Securities, and co-founding a biotechnology/bioinformatics company. My work has included developing computer approaches, models, and tools to help health and healthcare decision makers in all continents (except for Antarctica). This has included serving as the Principal Investigator of over $60 million in research grants from a wide variety of sponsors such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Science Foundation (NSF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Global Fund. I have authored over 250 scientific publications and three books. In addition to covering health, healthcare, and science for Forbes, I maintain a blog "A Funny Bone to Pick" for Psychology Today, a Substack entitled "Minded by Science"and have written articles forThe New York Times, Time, The Guardian, The HuffPost, STAT, the MIT Technology Review and others. My work and expertise have appeared in leading media outlets such as The New York Times, ABC, USA Today, Good Morning America, Tamron Hall Show, BBC, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, CBS News, Businessweek, U.S. News and World Report, Bloomberg News, Reuters, National Public Radio (NPR), National Geographic, MSN, and PBS. Follow me on Twitter (@bruce_y_lee) but dont ask me if I know martial arts.

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#CovidIsntOver Trends As Covid-19 Hospitalizations Rise By 8.6% - Forbes