Hospitalized For COVID Or With It? RI Reporting The Difference

PROVIDENCE, RI — A little more than two thirds of Rhode Island COVID-19 patients hospitalized since June 2021 were admitted because of the illness. While about a third tested positive at the hospital but were admitted for another reason, according to new data from the Rhode Island Department of Health released Thursday.

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, state health officials drew distinctions between the two types of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Dr. Philip Chan, a leader in the state's COVID-19 response on March 4 said that the new system would take a more holistic approach to evaluating risk, rather than relying entirely on case numbers.

Health officials said they also calculated the data tracing back to June using a machine learning algorithm to estimate the cause of hospitalization, where the cause was unknown. Officials said the algorithm can accurately classify about 82 percent of hospital discharges.

"The algorithm uses data from COVID-19 hospital discharges where cause of hospitalization is known, either from chart review or as reported by hospitals," the Department of Health's website reads. "It considers patient age, symptom status, diagnosis, Remdesivir use, and other factors to estimate 'due to' COVID-19 when cause of hospitalization is not provided from hospitals."

The data helps show how different variants affected hospitalizations. In August 2021, 81 percent of patients in the hospital with COVID-19 were admitted primarily because of the virus.

The other 19 percent were hospitalized for other reasons, but tested positive at the hospital, according to state health officials. At this time, the delta variant was starting to become prevalent across Rhode Island.

But once omicron became the dominant variant over delta, the rate dropped. As of February 2022, just 44 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Rhode Island were hospitalized primarily for the virus.

"The increased prevalence of the omicron variant made it more likely that someone going to the hospital for another health issue would have COVID-19," health officials said on the department's website.