Since COVID-19 began in March of 2020, hospitals across the country have been required to report bed capacity numbers along with other metrics to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This data was not typically in the public sphere before then.
According to the data, Arizona hospitals are seeing about 80% of beds in use. On a seven-day moving average, that number has not changed much all year. Compared to 2021 and 2022 however, bed use is elevated — about four points higher than last year and 11 points higher than 2021.
It has been 84 days since an Arizona hospital reported a critical staffing shortage to Health and Human Services. On average, three to four hospitals report on any given day that a staffing shortage could be imminent by the next week. While actual hospitals are not named, it concludes that the state’s hospitals have staffing needs met, but many with not much room to give.
The data does not give a solid indication as to what is causing the elevated use of hospital beds, but the data is clear it is not due to influenza or RSV. Confirmed cases for both viruses spiked unusually early this season with cases peaking in the middle of December. Surveillance data for both however shows weekly case numbers are well below the five-season averages.
COVID-19 makes up about 5% of hospital beds in use right now. Weekly case numbers have been hovering between 3,500 and 3,900 since February, a stark difference from the over 12,000 cases in December. Which itself pales in comparison to the over 50,000 weekly cases that were common at the same time last year.
Other factors that may be contributing to elevated hospitalizations are Valley Fever, invasive infections, and foodborne illnesses.