Hospital infections dip during pandemic

 

Effect on COVID-19 and lockdown measures in the United States on hospital-acquired or hospital-treated infection shows stark contrast compared to the same period in 2019

 

Our analysis U.S. claims data shows that the number of admissions with hospital-acquired or hospital-treated infections between April-May 2019 and the same period in 2020 have dropped sharply across most infection sites.

The most likely reason is that many elective admissions have been cancelled or postponed. In contrast, cases of ventilator-associated pneumonia has increased 37% as ICUs were taken up by patients with severe COVID-19.

The pattern we see in our U.S. claims dataset quantifies the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on elective procedures and the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Likewise, for makers of antibiotics this represents a hit to their sales volume while public safety measures result in many elective procedures being postponed or cancelled – however, when the pandemic subsides, we may expect those procedures to be rescheduled.