Trends in COVID-19 Inpatient Cases and Hospital Capacities during the Emergence of the Omicron Variant in the United States

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to analyze hospital capacities in terms of hospital beds and staffing in the United States and explore the trends of hospital capacities during the Omicron variant emergence. Methods: Using data collected by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, this study examined hospitalization rates from 15 December 2021 to 13 February 2022. Graphical trends were plotted for visualization of hospital bed usage and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) inpatient cases. A Pearson correlation test was used to explore the relationship between critical staffing shortage and COVID-19 death cases. Descriptive statistics of all hospital data were calculated. Results: At the peak of the Omicron variant surge, approximately one-third of the adult intensive care unit beds were used for COVID-19 patients in the United States. The total number of COVID-19 death cases increased as the number of hospitals with critical staffing shortages increased (p < 0.05). Discussion: This study can inform hospital administrators and public health policymakers on how to modify the use of existing hospital and human resources as the continually evolving pandemic taxes hospital capacity. Future studies need to be conducted to determine the long-term trend and how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change rapidly.