Are Hospitals Full Of COVID-19 Patients?

by Elliott
~1 minute
Are Hospitals Full Of COVID-19 Patients?

It seems like we read or hear about how badly hospitals in Idaho and the US are doing with COVID-19 patients. But the data paints a different picture. This data is from the US Government Health and Human Services website at: https://protect-public.hhs.gov/pages/hospital-capacity

Idaho Hospitals have 15% of their beds filled with COVID-19 patients.

All US hospitals have an occupancy rate of about 70%. And Idaho's occupancy rate is 57%. And Idaho's ICU is not close to full at 70%. Even 100% ICU is not "full", since all can flex to 125% - it's federal mandate. Most ICU's can flex to 150-200%. They just do not leave the beds staffed when they are not needed. it's too expensive.

Hospitals are like airlines or hotels: they seek to be full, not empty; building capacity you do not use is how you lose money.

So why the panic?