COVID-19 Surveillance Indicators Decreased Last Week

The U.S. CDC's COVIDView's Key Updates for Week #2, ending January 16, 2021, included surveillance indicators tracking SARS-CoV-2 virus circulation levels and associated illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths decreased during the last week. Recent declines in all indicators should be interpreted with caution as reporting delays increased due to the holidays, said the CDC on January 22, 2021.

Nationally, the overall percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 decreased from 14.7% during week #1 to 11.9% during week #2. And the trend in the weekly percentage of deaths due to pneumonia, influenza, and COVID-19 (PIC) has decreased since mid-December 2020.

However, the overall weekly hospitalization rate remains elevated and above earlier peaks in the COVID-19 pandemic. While the rate reached its highest point during the week ending December 12, 2020, rates in recent weeks are likely to increase as additional data are reported to the CDC.

Among 15,979 sampled adults hospitalized during March 1–October 31, 2020, with information on underlying medical conditions, 90.6% had at least one reported underlying medical condition. The most-reported underlying medical conditions in adults were hypertension (55.8%), obesity (48.5%), metabolic disease (41.2%), and cardiovascular disease (32.5%).

Among children, 52.0% had at least one reported underlying medical condition. The most-reported underlying medical conditions to the CDC were obesity (37.5%), neurologic disease (13.3%), and asthma (11.3%).