10,000 Americans Caught COVID in a Hospital, New Study Finds

An analysis of COVID data by Kaiser Health News has found that a shockingly high number of people contracted COVID last year during hospital stays for unrelated issues. More than 10,000 people went to hospital for issues like heart attacks, kidney failure, or a psychiatric crisis, and were then diagnosed with COVID while in the hospital. That number is likely to be an undercount as some data only included people aged 65 and older. About 21 percent of patients who caught the virus in a hospital from April to September last year died. “[I]n the scheme of things that can go wrong in a hospital, it is catastrophic,” KHN’s analysis said.

One colon cancer survivor was admitted to the Blake Medical Center in Florida for hip surgery yet tested positive after spending 13 days in the hospital. He died three days later. His wife then discovered that the hospital had not implemented a vaccine mandate for employees. His widow, Cindy Johnson, said she was “furious.”