A modeling study today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report estimates that 12,000 more people die 2 weeks after US hospitals reach 75% adult intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy amid COVID-19 pandemic surges, a figure that rises to 80,000 when ICUs are full—which is the case now in many hospitals in multiple US states.Researchers from the US Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency COVID Task Force evaluated the relationship between overwhelmed hospitals and excess deaths from Jul 4, 2020, to Jul 10, 2021.
The end of the study period included the emergence and eventual dominance of the more transmissible Delta (B1617.2) variant.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided data on