Impact of hospital strain on excess deaths during the COVID‐19 pandemic—United States, july 2020–july 2021

This article describes the excess deaths observed when hospitals are strained by COVID‐19 admissions, as defined by intensive care unit bed occupancy. Specifically, when intensive care unit bed occupancy reaches 75% of capacity, there are an estimated 12,000 additional excess deaths; when hospitals exceed 100% of their intensive care unit bed capacity, approximately 80,000 excess deaths are expected in the following 2 weeks nationally. This report suggests that all patient populations, including transplant candidates and recipients, will experience additional excess deaths when there is increased strain on hospitals due to COVID‐19 surges.