6:09 p.m. ET, August 9, 2021
Covid-19 hospitalization rates in some states are more than double national average, data shows
From CNN's Deidre McPhillips
Nurses check on a patient in the ICU Covid-19 ward at NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro, Arkansas, on August 4.
(Houston Cofield/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Current Covid-19 hospitalization rates in some of the states hit hardest by the latest surge are more than double the national rate, according to
data from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
In the United States overall, there are currently about 21 people hospitalized with Covid-19 for every 100,000 people. That translates to about one in every 4,900 Americans.
In Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, current hospitalization rates are more than double the national rate.
And in Florida, the hospitalization rate is more than triple the national rate. There are more than 65 people hospitalized with Covid-19 for every 100,000 people in Florida, about one out of every 1,500 state residents.
Overall, about one in five intensive care unit beds in the US are occupied by Covid-19 patients. But in these five states with the highest hospitalization rates, the share of ICU beds occupied by Covid-19 patients is even higher, ranging from 25% in Alabama to more than a third in Florida
Also, each of these five states – Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas – have fully vaccinated less than half of their residents, lagging behind the US overall, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In fact, every state with a higher-than-average hospitalization rate had a lower than average vaccination rate, according to a CNN analysis of data from the CDC and HHS.