The U.S. tallied about 15,000 reported hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 over the seven days ending Aug. 19. Though a far cry from previous totals during the pandemic, that’s a 19% increase from the week prior, continuing a climb that started at the end of June after hospitalizations reached a recent weekly low point of approximately 6,300.
Relative to population, the latest tally equates to 4.5 people per 100,000 admitted to the hospital. By state, Hawaii and Florida saw the highest rates of new COVID-19 hospitalizations, at 9.8 and 9.7 per 100,000, respectively – more than twice the national rate. Louisiana (6.6), Alabama (6.5) and Mississippi (6.5) had the next-highest rates.
Among patients visiting emergency departments, 1.9% were diagnosed with COVID-19 nationally. Hawaii and the southeastern states of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and Louisiana saw shares higher than 3%.
Seven counties were described by the CDC as having a “high” level of COVID-19 hospital admissions, with rates of 20 per 100,000 or higher. Several counties in Mississippi – Noxubee, Lowndes, and Clay – as well as Lamar County, Alabama, were reported to have seen 26.4 new hospitalizations per 100,000 people. Another 117 counties were said to have a “medium” level of COVID-19 hospital admissions – with rates between 10.0 and 19.9 per 100,000 people.
Notably, the CDC’s county hospital admission figures are calculated at the Health Service Area level, which can span multiple counties. This means counties within the same HSA will share the same admission rates in the data.
The counties with the highest rates of COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people were:
Lamar County, Alabama - 26.4
Clay County, Mississippi - 26.4
Lowndes County, Mississippi - 26.4
Noxubee County, Mississippi - 26.4
Fisher County, Texas - 25.8
Mitchell County, Texas - 25.8
Nolan County, Texas - 25.8
Jefferson County, Georgia - 19.6
Washington County, Georgia - 19.6
Claiborne Parish, Louisiana - 19.1
Fillmore County, Nebraska - 19.1
Thayer County, Nebraska - 19.1
Stevens County, Kansas - 18.2
Furnas County, Nebraska - 17.6
Harlan County, Nebraska - 17.6
Phelps County, Nebraska - 17.6
Rutland County, Vermont - 17.2
Foard County, Texas - 16.8
Hardeman County, Texas - 16.8
Wilbarger County, Texas - 16.8
Because hospitalization rates are calculated per 100,000 people, it’s worth noting that even a relatively small number of hospitalizations in a small community can lead to a higher hospitalization rate.
Other measures also can give a sense of the current state of COVID-19. Though the CDC has ceased publishing a "community level" metric that incorporated COVID-19 case rates and hospital admissions – as well as the average percentage of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients – health departments can submit the results of their sampling of wastewater for the virus to the CDC via the National Wastewater Surveillance System.
Since the U.S. passed 1 million cumulative deaths tied to COVID-19 in the spring of 2022, more than 138,000 additional people have died in connection with the disease, according to provisional data from the CDC.
While the latest tallies are down from a recent peak of about 3,900 deaths in a week in January – and well below the maximum peak of around 26,000 deaths per week in early 2021 – data indicates hundreds of people have died in connection with COVID-19 of late. Maryland and Florida each saw 3.4% of their total deaths attributed to COVID-19 during the week ending Aug. 19, doubling the national percentage.
。
B | Kenny 编译 某种意义上，交通部长Simeon Brown兑现了任期内不涨燃油税的承诺。
根据3月4日内阁发布的《政府陆路交通政策声明草案》，本届政府将废除工党政府逐步将燃油税提高12纽分/升的决议；但到2027年1月（下届国会开始），燃油税将一次性提高12纽分/升。
Advertise with us
燃油税的上涨并不止于此：到2028年燃油税还将上涨6纽分/升，之后每年上涨4纽分/升。这意味着下届政府任期结束时（2029年），燃油税将上涨22纽分/升。
与此同时，车辆登记费（rego，即路税）将增加50纽币（未来两年里每年涨25纽币）。交通罚款也将全面提价。
C |
《政府陆路交通政策声明草案》本质上是未来六年的交通预算案，规定了国家党政府希望从道路使用者那里筹措到多少燃油税和路税用于道路升级和改造。
该草案将首先征求意见，然后在7月1日生效。它可能在三年后续签一次（如国家党继续执政）。
D |
草案的两个核心内容是进行道路维护（设立坑洼修复基金）和重启国家重要道路 (RoNS) 计划。根据该计划，国家党政府将在未来交付15条新国道。
Brown表示，政府将创建两个坑洼道路基金，一个将花费最多2.3亿纽币，用于维修政府拥有的高速公路；另一个将花费最多2.5亿纽币，用于维修地方议会拥有的地方道路。他说希望资金能够“每年更新2%的高速公路网络”。
关于新路，草案没有给出需要多少资金。
E | 根据英文《先驱报》获得的信息，新路成本可能是国家党大选估值的两倍，即存在240亿纽币的资金缺口。
与工党方案相比，国家党方案进行了大幅削减。工党政府曾计划未来三年内在公共交通基础设施上投入高达32亿纽币，相比之下国家党的草案削减了近10亿纽币。
F |
今天下午，总理Christopher Luxon在内阁后新闻发布会上重申了本届任期内不会提高燃油税的承诺。
但他也表示一旦通胀率低于3%，第二个任期就会将燃油税提高12%。
总理和Brown都否认国家党方案存在240亿纽币资金缺口的说法。
