Uptick in COVID-19 Cases Worth Monitoring
With the Department of Health (DOH) indicating a statewide uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations, we want to remind members of key sources and metrics for monitoring incidence of the virus in their region. In a press release issued Aug. 2nd, DOH noted that hospital admissions increased by 22 percent relative to the previous week, with over 100 new COVID-19 hospital admissions statewide per day. The COVID-19 Tracker provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which categorizes hospital admission rates for each county in the country as High, Medium, or Low, classifies all the counties in the Northeastern U.S., including those in New York State, as “Low.” While still Low, most regions within the state are experiencing admission figures last seen in April.
Daily COVID-19 hospital admission data reported by DOH remains among the best indicators of trends – both of COVID-19 prevalence and severity. Wastewater surveillance data is an early indicator that is also available from the State. Along with a map showing results of the most recent samples, DOH puts out a weekly wastewater surveillance report. Links to both of these data sets are available on the DOH COVID-19 Data in New York webpage. Information is provided in graphic format, allowing the user to select desired region and timeframe. If the interactive features malfunction, please try using a different browser.
New York City provides even more granular information on its own COVID-19 data page, including hospitalization data by borough and neighborhood.
The other piece of information that DOH posts, although just in database format, is Health Emergency Response Data System (HERDS) survey data for nursing homes and adult care facilities (ACFs) showing the count of new COVID-19 cases among residents and staff on a weekly basis. That data is updated on the HealthData NY page each Wednesday. For the week ending Aug. 1st, there were 64 nursing homes and ACFs reporting new COVID-19 diagnoses among staff or residents, with a total of 235 residents affected. Of the 64 facilities, 44 were in the New York City metropolitan region, 13 in Western New York, four in Central New York, and three in the Capital District.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841