Coronavirus Hospitalizations At Cape Cod Healthcare Hold Steady

BARNSTABLE, MA — One of the key metrics state health officials use to judge the severity of the coronavirus pandemic is the total number of hospitalizations. The state's overall total has dropped for a third straight week, a positive sign that Massachusetts is flattening the curve.

On Wednesday, total hospitalizations hit 2,518 statewide, far below the highest daily total of 3,965 measured on April 21.

At Cape Cod Healthcare hospitals, the picture is a bit more up and down, but Barnstable County also has far fewer hospitalizations than some of the hardest hit communities in Suffolk and Middlesex counties. Cape Cod and Falmouth hospital hit a peak of 46 combined hospitalizations on April 21. The total had reached as low as 19 on May 3 but was at 25 on Wednesday — and that includes patients in intensive care at both facilities — but the majority of those drops in hospitalization have occurred at Falmouth Hospital.

Here's a chart showing all Cape Cod Healthcare hospitalizations (the line at top), plus the total for each hospital. The chart only goes back to April 20 because that's when the state Department of Public Health began releasing data on individual hospitals.

The concept of "flattening the curve" refers to avoiding a spike in hospitalizations that overwhelm medical facilities.

Gov. Charlie Baker has said that the hospitalization rate is the data point state officials "watch most closely" when making a determination about reopening parts of the economy. It will continue to be used as a key metric as Baker considers moving into phase two of the state's reopening plan in the coming weeks. See what will return in each phase.