COVID-19 hospitalizations up 27%, rise in 45 states

COVID-19 hospitalizations rose 27% nationwide in the last two weeks, with increases occurring in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Compared with earlier periods during the pandemic, patients are requiring less supplemental oxygen and intensive care, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the press. As of May 7, the agency reported that a new subvariant of omicron was rapidly displacing BA.2. This month, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control classified two additional subvariants, which appear to evade immune protection, as variants of concern. They were first detected in South Africa this winter. (Becker’s Hospital Review article, 5/18/22)