LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The reality is roughly 10% of those infected with the coronavirus need hospital treatment to recover but as cases climb, hospitalizations multiply.
Officials are concerned that the rate of increased hospitalizations could overwhelm the healthcare system resources.
In the past two weeks, we're hearing concerns about resources but also about the staff. As cases surge, healthcare workers are not immune.
The FOCUS team has been keeping an eye on the growth and we're breaking down the increase in patients and also how hospitalizations are impacting each age group.
INDIANA
The number of Hoosiers in the ICU tonight has more than tripled compared to September 1, growing from 247 patients to 750 positive patients as of November 15.
Follow that blue line from left to right to track that trend upward.
To put you at ease, Indiana is not yet at full capacity. About 26% of the state's ICU beds are open and 75% of the ventilators are free.
Here's a breakdown of hospitalization by age since the start of the pandemic.
Each bar on this graph shows the number of patients so sick they need hospital treatment.
To give you some context, about 40% of the total Hoosiers hospitalized are between 60 and 80 years old, according to data collected by the Regenstrief Institute.
Those are the tallest two bars toward the right.
However, those age groups only account for about 17% of the total cases in the state.
We know the virus impacts each age group differently but it can be spread across age groups.
KENTUCKY
In Kentucky, more COVID patients than ever before will be spending the night in intensive care.
Here's a look at increases since September.
In just more than two months the number of patients in the ICU daily has more than doubled, from 138 positive ICU patients on September 1 to 360 patients on November 16.
About 2% of those with confirmed COVID19 cases in Kentucky will need intensive care treatment.
As of November 10, including those that need care for other medical conditions, about 28% of the hospital beds were free and about 17% of the ICU beds were available according to the Kentucky Hospital Association.
The blue bars show the number of Kentuckians needing hospital treatment whereas the orange bars show the number of patients that spend time in intensive care.
The ages are along the bottom.
Compared to data we received in August, the younger age groups are seeing the largest percentage of increases.
Note the Kentucky Public Health department only has admission and discharge data for less than 50% of the total hospitalizations at the time this data was obtained by the FOCUS team.
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