The cost of treating adults who had not received a Covid-19 vaccination totaled nearly $9.5 million in June and July, according to new data from the Connecticut Hospital Association.
The CHA estimated the “preventable cost for unvaccinated Covid-19-related adult hospitalizations” in June at nearly $4.2 million in June and over $5.3 million in July.
The model used by the association assumes the approximate cost is about $20,000 per person admitted to one of the state”™s 27 acute-care hospitals, which include Bridgeport, Danbury, Greenwich and Norwalk hospitals, along with Stamford Health and St. Vincent”™s Medical Center in Bridgeport.
According to the data, of the 773 adult patients admitted to hospitals with Covid-19 during the period, 98.3% were estimated to be unvaccinated. Of those patients, 74% were believed to be hospitalized primarily for Covid-19, and 84% of those hospitalizations are believed to have been preventable.
The CHA said that, given that Connecticut’s vaccination rates are higher than the national average and ICU care costs are also higher, the $9.5 million figure may be a conservative estimate.
The data was provided to State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk). “We know that many current Covid-19 hospitalizations are preventable if people get vaccinated,” Duff said. “The human and health cost to these individuals is incalculable but this latest information shows the financial costs as people refuse the Covid-19 vaccine.
“The nearly $10 million in preventable costs their treatment required could have been avoided ”“ but instead, those costs will impact hospitals, and taxpayers, in years to come,” he continued. “It’s believed that nearly 500 of those hospitalizations could have been prevented by vaccination. This shows that vaccination is not just a personal choice, but one that impacts our communities and the services we need every day.”
As of yesterday afternoon, the state”™s daily positivity rate stood at 2.99%. Covid-related hospitalizations stood at 357 ”“ 76 of them in Fairfield County ”“ and the state had recorded 8,394 Covid-related deaths.
