Despite the widespread availability of vaccines, the U.S. has now returned to the number of Covid-19 patients it had hospitalized in mid-March and early April as the spread of the more infectious delta variant continues to undo the country’s recent progress.
Some 44,663 coronavirus patients are currently occupying hospital inpatient beds (5.8% of the country’s total hospital bed space), and just under 10,000 are in intensive care units (12.5% of capacity), according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Hospitalizations have increased by more than a third since last week, when just over 33,000 coronavirus patients were hospitalized, and have jumped by more than 10,000 in the past five days alone.