Respiratory Virus Response: U.S. Hospitalization and Bed Capacity Metrics by Jurisdiction

Approximately 6,000 U.S. hospitals reported weekly data on COVID-19 admissions and bed occupancy to the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network. This dataset aggregates counts to country, HHS region, and state/territory levels, providing metrics on hospital capacity and community disease levels. The dataset is archived and was last updated on May 3, 2024, after which mandatory reporting ended.

Use Cases

• Modeling trends in pediatric COVID-19 admissions using `admissions_05_11_covid_confirmed` and `average_admissions_12_17_covid_confirmed` (from 31 available columns).
• Analyzing ICU capacity strain by calculating changes in occupancy with `absolute_change_average_percent_staff_icu_beds_occupied` and `average_percent_staff_icu_beds_occupied` (from 31 available columns).
• Comparing adult and pediatric inpatient bed utilization via `average_percent_pediatric_inpatient_beds_covid` and `average_percent_adult_inpatient_beds_occupied` (from 31 available columns).
• Assessing reporting coverage and data completeness by examining `number_hospitals_reporting_today` against `total_hospitals` (from 31 available columns).

Strengths

• Data sourced from a national surveillance system covering approximately 6,000 U.S. hospitals.
• Includes 31 distinct columns for granular analysis of admissions, bed occupancy, and capacity across multiple age groups and jurisdictions.
• Weekly update cadence provided timely operational data during the reporting period.

Limitations

• Data for pediatric COVID-19 admission fields (`adm_00_04_covid_confirmed`, etc.) only begin from March 1, 2022, limiting earlier trend analysis.
• Row count and total temporal coverage are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is archived and was last updated on May 3, 2024; it does not reflect current hospital conditions.

Provenance

Source

data.cdc.gov, via the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).

Collection Method

Aggregated counts reported voluntarily and mandatorily by U.S. hospitals to the NHSN.

Time Range

Time-series data; specific start date unknown. Reporting ended May 3, 2024.

Freshness

Archived; last updated 2024-10-18 16:09:34. Was updated weekly each Friday.

Geography

United States, aggregated to country, HHS region, and state/territory levels.