COVID-19

Hospitalizations increased in October after a drop in September.

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations rates hit a pandemic low of 3.9 per 100,000 Americans during the week of September 19, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While October's hospitalization rates are preliminary, the rate ticked up at least 38% to 5.4 hospitalizations per 100,000 people by the week of October 17. The 65+ population had a 48.5% spike in hospitalization rate during this period from 10.1 hospitalizations per 100,000 to 15.

On July 29, 9.9% of all hospital beds were filled with COVID-19 patients, according to Department of Health and Human Services data. Since then, the share dropped to as low as 4.6% on Oct. 3, before increasing to 7.4% on November 2.

17 jobs remain lost for every 10 coronavirus cases.

The latest state-level data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 12.3 million fewer people were employed in September than in February. No state has fully regained the jobs lost during the pandemic.

With 7,174,631 known cases at the end of September, there were 1.7 fewer jobs for every known COVID-19 case in the US compared to February employment levels. States with lower case counts compared with other states tend to have the highest ratio of jobs lost. In Vermont, where there have been 1,752 known cases through September, there were also 23,800 fewer jobs. That’s 13.6 jobs lost per case. In Hawaii, which had a 12,410 cumulative case count at the end of September, it still had 131,000 fewer jobs than in February. That’s 10.6 jobs lost per case.

On the other end, Mississippi had 98,189 cases as of September 30. It also had 3,800 fewer jobs than in February. That’s one job lost for every 25 cases.

Small business owners remain pessimistic about the pandemic, although impacts vary across states.

Across the country, nearly three-fourths of all businesses report a large or moderate effect on their business due to the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the US Census Bureau’s latest Small Business Pulse Survey. Businesses in Hawaii and Alaska report being most impacted by the virus, with over 40% of small businesses reporting a large negative impact from COVID-19 and over 80% of small business owners reporting a large or moderate impact on their business. In contrast, less than 20% of small businesses in Idaho and Delaware report a large negative effect from coronavirus.

Small businesses surveyed said they were setting expectations for a long and slow recovery. In the October 20 Small Business Pulse survey, 45% of businesses expected it to take over six months for business operations to return to their pre-pandemic level, and 7.3% reported never expecting their business operations to return to normal. Only 4.4% of small businesses expect their businesses to return to normal in three or fewer months. Some small businesses have escaped the pandemic without major harm, though, with 28.5% reporting a full recovery or no impact on their normal operations level. These figures have not changed from the September 26 survey.

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