COVID Cases Pass 69M As Hospitalization Rates Rise While Mortality Rates Drop

COVID cases in the United States have surpassed 69 million. According to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, there have been 69,270,651 COVID cases resulting in 860,146 deaths. 

This represents a mortality rate of 1.2% which has been dropping since the emergence of the Omicron variant nearly two months ago. Since December 4th, less than 7 weeks ago, the mortality rate has dropped from 1.6% to 1.2%. There have been more than 70,000 deaths during that period, but there have also been 20 million additional COVID cases. By using these rough figures this represents a mortality rate of 0.4%. However, hospitalizations have risen dramatically over this same period. On December 4th, there were 54,572 hospitalizations due to COVID. That number is now nearing 160,000 representing an increase of nearly threefold. If hospitalizations continue to increase I cannot help but wonder if the mortality rate will freeze or will start to climb up again.