COVID-19 treatment in 2020: a slideshow

March 2020 will be remembered for the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the remaining months of 2020, how many people were affected? What types of treatments did they seek?

The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published estimates in “Healthcare Use and Expenditures for COVID-19, U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 2020,” the agency’s Statistical Brief #549. The findings are based on the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which compiles data reported by household respondents.

The figures do not include people in nursing homes or other institutions, or active-duty military service members. Researchers Emily Mitchell, PhD, Rebecca Ahrnsbrak, MPS, and Zhengyi Fang, MS, noted the estimates represent treated prevalence, or people who had COVID-19 and a medical event related to COVID-19. That is a subset of true prevalence, or the total number of people who had COVID-19, regardless of whether they received medical care for the disease.