COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 Hospitalization Rate and Mortality Rate by Respiratory Season in Tennessee. Magdalena Dorvil-Joanem* Chaitra Subramanya Jennifer Jain Sarah Waldo Kelly Squires Jane Yackley
BACKGROUND: As of March 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that vaccinations, effective treatment, and population immunity have caused fewer hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 compared to previous years. Tennessee trends are similar; approximately 50% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in Tennessee occurred during the 2020-2021 respiratory season. Hospitalization and mortality declined over subsequent years. The Tennessee Department of Health aimed to evaluate the statistical significance of these trends.
METHODS: Data from the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System were used to calculate 7-day rolling averages and rates per 100k population for COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths from March 5, 2020, through September 30, 2024. Data was divided into 5 respiratory seasons from 2019-2024. Each respiratory season started October 1 and ended September 30 of the following year, except for the respiratory season 2019-2020 due to data limitations. A one-way ANOVA was performed to compare COVID-19 hospitalization and mortality rates across respiratory seasons.
RESULTS: The one-way ANOVA shows a statistically significant difference in mean hospitalization rates (F (4,1656)= [407.67], P= <0.001) and mortality rates (F (4,1650)= [245.43], P= <0.001) across all respiratory seasons. Tukey’s HSD test found that mean hospitalization rates and mortality rates between all respiratory seasons were statistically significant for 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022.
CONCLUSIONS: There were statistically significant differences in the mean COVID-19 hospitalization and mortality rates in Tennessee over the respiratory seasons from 2019-2024. Further analysis needs to be conducted to explore potential causes and associations in trends between COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths by respiratory seasons.