LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — When it comes to hospitalization case reports for the state, a THV11 viewer reached out to our Verify team asking how these cases and ventilator numbers are calculated.
According to the Arkansas Department of Health, it does account for deaths in hospitalization numbers if people were hospitalized when they die.
But not everyone dies in a hospital – some people die at home or in hospice.
If someone dies in a hospital, though, that is included in decreased hospitalization numbers.
With ventilators, it's both. Fewer ventilator numbers include both people who have successfully come off of a vent and those that have died while on a vent.