New CDC COVIDView report pledges weekly summaries of coronavirus data

As part of ongoing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) efforts to promote reliable COVID-19 information, it has modified its existing surveillance systems to form a weekly new report known as COVIDView, which will summarize and interpret data each Friday.

The first COVIDView launched last week and gave an idea of what to expect going forward. Information like outpatient visits, emergency department visits, hospitalizations, deaths, and laboratory data will be included. In the first report, data showed that both flu-like illnesses and deaths from pneumonia are up, compared to most years, though little in the way of flu circulation.

The official COVID-19 hospitalization rate is sitting at 4.6 per 100,000 people while also reflecting long-established trends for the disease–specifically, that it targets the elderly more aggressively. Approximately 13.8 per 100,000 people are hospitalized among those 65 years and older, but those 50-64 years old also have a higher hospitalization rate, at 7.4 per 100,000. The CDC compared this as similar to the beginning of annual flu epidemics. Further, the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia and flu has increased to 8.2 percent, with sharp increases tracked since the end of February. Deaths due to flu declined last week.

Future reports will specifically touch on the numbers of positive tests for SARS-COV-2, outpatient data for those with influenza-like or COVID-19-like illnesses, and additional surveillance systems and data sources. CDC expects this to be an ever-expanding data chain, drawn from increasing sources of data over time.