Issue: census and incident counts are not the same
There is a subtle but important distinction between census and admission
counts that explains why there are few if any hospital admission reports
for covid-19 worldwide. Hospital census is a measure that is easily
generated by simply counting how many patients have a confirmed covid-19
diagnosis (usually measured at mid-night). Counting a new admission is
straightforward when a patient arrives with a covid-19 diagnosis. But
what if covid-19 is diagnosed after their admission day? What if a
patient is transferred to another hospital? What if a covid-19 diagnosis
was made outside the hospital setting, or a covid-19 patient is
readmitted? New admissions covid-19 is a measure that is more difficult
to generate because people are counted if have covid-19 either at the
time of admission or retrospectively classified as a new admission if or
when covid-19 is confirmed later during their hospital stay. A line
listing of covid-19 patients is required to address these concerns.