New study indicates about half of COVID hospitalizations this year were of patients with mild or no

A new study indicates COVID hospitalization data may be more bark than bite.

Throughout the pandemic, hospitalization metrics have been touted as the most reliable data point relaying the seriousness of the pandemic. The number of cases relies upon testing — and people generally only get tested if they are symptomatic — while deaths are a lagging indicator.

However, a new study examining nearly 50,000 COVID hospital admissions across more than 100 Veterans Affairs hospitals appears to undermine the veracity of this belief.

That's because COVID data does not differentiate the severity of cases of hospitalized patients.

In fact, the study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, indicates that a significant number of people who have been included in the "hospitalized" data on COVID dashboards experienced only mild symptoms, were asymptomatic, or were admitted to the hospital for reasons unrelated to COVID, but tested positive for COVID while admitted.

New study indicates about half of COVID hospitalizations this year were of patients with mild or no symptoms