Ohios hospitalizations tied to coronavirus take a sharp turn for the better – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Hospitalizations tied to the coronavirus in Ohio have plummeted from late fall when they were shooting up at such a sharp rate that they raised concerns both of a rapidly growing spread of the virus and that the hospitals could eventually be overrun.

After peaking at 5,308 statewide on Dec. 15, the daily patient count began to trend down, and by Thursday had dropped to 3,406 patients. Thats a decline of 36%, or 1,902 patients, from the peak.

The number of patients in intensive care units across the state also has dropped 36%, dipping from a record of 1,318 on Dec. 15 to 845 on Thursday, the daily survey by the Ohio Hospital Association shows.

Both numbers remain far in excess of where they were at the beginning of the fall on Sept. 22. At that time there were 590 patients overall, including 199 in ICU beds. But the change since the fist half of December marks a dramatic turn from what had been a sharp curve up.

Twenty-seven percent of the states hospital beds were vacant on Thursday, with a vacancy rate of 23% for ICU beds.

One of the reasons the vacancy rate is not higher is that more non-COVID patients are now hospitalized. There were 16,983 people hospitalized Thursday for reasons other than coronavirus, up from 15,373 just 10 days earlier.

Likewise for ICU beds. Non-COVID patients occupied 2,849 ICU beds on Thursday, up from 2,670, on Jan. 11.

Not only does the hospital trend provide a glimpse into the number of serious cases, and concerns over whether hospital capacity is in danger of being reached, from the onset of the virus in the spring it has been the most steady way to track trends.

Early on, younger people were being told not to even get tested if they werent sick enough to go to the hospital. Tests were being rationed for the oldest, the sickest and health care workers. Then late in 2020, daily reports for cases overall at best provided a murky look at the trends as reporting was erratic, often delayed, and some criteria changed for counting cases.

Hospitalizations often occur a week or so after the onset of symptoms. Data from deaths to illustrate trends often isnt available until weeks later.

Among the possible factors for the change in the trend: the beginning of vaccinations, though limited to date; the closing of many schools for in-person instruction late last year; a 10 p.m. curfew instituted by Gov. Mike DeWine in mid-November; a public awareness effort to encourage people to avoid large holiday gatherings; and possible changes by some hospitals in considering when to admit and keep patients.

Thursdays count of 3,406 patients might be adjusted in the coming days as the hospital association receives more data. But the changes from the initial daily reports are usually small.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. See other data-related stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.

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Ohios hospitalizations tied to coronavirus take a sharp turn for the better - cleveland.com