WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2020) A study of more than 9,000 patients in US Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals showed COVID-19 patients dying at five times the rate of those being treated for flu, the Centers for Disease Control said in a report on Tuesday.
The report was based on a comparison of electronic heath records of 3,948 hospitalized veterans with COVID-19 from March 1 to May 31 with 5,453 patients hospitalized influenza patients, the report said.
"The percentage of COVID-19 patients who died while hospitalized (21.0%) was more than five times that of influenza patients (3.8%), and the duration of hospitalization was almost three times longer for COVID-19 patients," the report said.
Among patients with COVID-19, the risk for respiratory, neurologic, and kidney complications, and sepsis was higher among non-Hispanic Black patients, patients of other races, and Hispanic patients compared with non-Hispanic White patients, the report added.
"This disparity is not solely accounted for by age and underlying medical conditions," the report said.
More than 220,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 since the outbreak first hit the US in February 2020, according to Johns Hopkins University.
By comparison, influenza killed 22,000 people in the 2019-20 season, according to the CDC. Seasonal flu outbreaks typically peak between December and February.
