The incidental case rate, showing the share of hospital patients who didn’t even know they had Covid, is at its highest level.
About 52% of people counted as Covid-19 patients in England aren’t actually in the hospital because of the virus. Rather, they were admitted for treatment of other medical conditions and only tested positive during routine screening.
The latest government figures show that, as of Tuesday, 6,767 of the 13,023 patients reported as having Covid-19 were being treated principally for unrelated health issues. The incidental case rate, reflecting hospital patients who didn’t even know they had the virus, is at its highest level since such breakdowns were made available last June and has doubled since the beginning of December.
Public health officials in many jurisdictions, such as Massachusetts in the US and Canada’s Ontario province, have begun delineating patients who are hospitalized with the virus – not because of it – to provide a clearer picture of Covid-19’s virulence amid concerns that lumping in incidental infections can misrepresent the pandemic’s health impact.
Separating incidental infections from legitimate Covid-19 hospitalizations has been made more relevant by the rapidly spreading Omicron strain, which is considered more contagious than previous variants, but is also relatively mild.
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Here in the UK we’ve known this for the best part of the past two years. They slightly gave the game away when people who “Died within 28 days of testing positive” was found to include those involved in accidents.