Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) released a new report last week that finds 15 states could run out of available hospital beds during the peak of the outbreak, if 35 percent of Americans were to get sick from the H1N1 flu virus.
Twelve additional states could reach or exceed 75 percent of their hospital bed capacity, based on estimates from the FluSurge model developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study, H1N1 Challenges Ahead, based on estimates from a computer model developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows the strain hospitals and health departments could face as a second wave of swine flu surges.
“Our point in doing this is not to cry Chicken Little but really to point out the potential even a mild pandemic can have and how readily that can overwhelm the healthcare delivery system,” Jeffrey Levi, director of Trust for America’s Health, which sponsored the report, said in a telephone briefing.
According to the report, the number of people hospitalized could range from 168,025 in California to 2,485 in Wyoming, and many states may face shortages of beds.