CDC begins weekly COVID-19 surveillance report

Editor's Note

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) announced April 3 that it is modifying existing surveillance systems to track COVID-19 and will be posting weekly reports each Friday.

The report, “COVIDView,” summarizes and interprets key indicators, including information related to COVID-19 outpatient visits, emergency department visits, hospitalizations, deaths, and laboratory data.

The April 3 report shows:

• Visits to outpatient providers and emergency departments with symptoms similar to COVID-19 are elevated, compared to what is normally seen this time of year. There is very little influenza virus circulation
• The overall COVID-19 hospitalization rate is 4.6 per 100,000, with the highest rate in those 65 years and older (13.8 per 100,000) and 50 to 64 years (7.4 per 100,000). These rates are similar to what is found at the start of an annual influenza epidemic.
• Deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza increased to 8.2%, which is above the epidemic threshold of 7.2%. The percent of deaths from pneumonia has increased sharply since the end of February, while those from influenza increased modestly through early March and declined this week. This could reflect an increase in pneumonia deaths caused by noninfluenza infections, such as COVID-19.

The National Center for Health Statistics is beginning to monitor deaths associated with COVID-19, which will be in this report next week.