COVID’s spread within hospitals hit all-time high amid omicron wave

Enlarge / A health care worker treats a patient inside a negative-pressure room in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, Missouri, on Tuesday, August 3, 2021. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)

Spread of COVID-19 within US hospitals hit a record high in January, with more than 3,000 hospital-acquired infections each week during the month and a peak of over 4,300, according to an analysis of federal data by Politico.

The surge of hospital transmissions mirrored the towering wave of cases in the overall population driven by the ultratransmissible omicron variant. The previous record for hospital-transmission of COVID-19 occurred in January 2020 when federal data caught over 2,000 infections per week within hospitals.

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View more storiesStill the numbers overall are likely to be significant undercounts given that they only capture patients who spend 14 consecutive days in a hospital and become infected during their stay. The data does not account for shorter stays or people who test positive after discharge.

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