A hospital network that counts who was admitted for it, not with it

COVID-NET — the COVID-19 Hospitalization Surveillance Network — **monitors
laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated hospitalisations among children and
adults.**

It sits inside RESP-NET, the Respiratory Virus Hospitalization Surveillance
Network, alongside its two siblings:

Three networks, one method, three viruses that fill the same winter beds —
which is what makes them comparable rather than three separate numbers.

Why hospitalisations, rather than cases

A case count depends on who sought a test, which changed beyond recognition
once home testing arrived. **A hospitalisation is recorded whether or not the
patient would have tested themselves**, so the series stays meaningful across
years when testing behaviour did not.

The variable that answers the argument

Among the clinical characteristics COVID-NET records is **reason for
admission.**

That is the distinction behind every dispute about "hospitalised with COVID
versus for COVID" — someone admitted for a broken leg who tests positive, and
someone admitted because they cannot breathe. Both are laboratory-confirmed
COVID-associated hospitalisations. Only one is the disease filling the ward.
COVID-NET collects the field that tells them apart, rather than leaving it to
be argued over.

What the dashboard holds

Hospitalisation rates by **season, surveillance site, age group, sex, or
race and ethnicity**, as weekly, monthly or cumulative rates.

Clinical characteristics — **underlying medical conditions, reason for
admission, patient outcomes** — by month, quarter or surveillance season.

Filters vary by topic; not every topic has them. The design is two choices:
pick a topic, then narrow it — which is worth knowing before concluding a
breakdown does not exist.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.