Estimated Disease Burden of COVID-19
To better reflect the burden of COVID-19 – the full impact of the disease — CDC provides estimates of COVID-19 infections, symptomatic illnesses, and hospitalizations using a statistical model to adjust for cases that national surveillance networks are unable to capture for a number of reasons. These estimates and the methodology used to calculate them are published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available onlineexternal icon. These estimates will be updated periodically.
Estimated COVID-19 Infections, Symptomatic Illnesses, and Hospitalizations—United States
CDC estimates that from February–September 2020:
These estimates suggest that during that period, there were approximately:
91 Million
Estimated Total Infections
77 Million
Estimated Symptomatic Illnesses
3.4 Million
Estimated Hospitalizations
Last Updated: December 11, 2020
Infections | Symptomatic Illness | Hospitalizations | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age group | Estimate | 95% UI* | Estimate | 95% UI* | Estimate | 95% UI* |
0-4 yrs | 3,020,624 | 2,499,512 – 3,666,192 |
2,578,049 | 2,248,128 – 2,978,515 |
27,045 | 22,175 – 32,742 |
5-17 yrs | 14,199,931 | 11,750,569 – 17,295,512 |
12,120,204 | 10,550,789 – 14,046,196 |
67,866 | 52,693 – 85,579 |
18-49 yrs | 48,905,808 | 40,358,886 – 59,515,342 |
41,671,972 | 36,183,391 – 48,460,323 |
877,481 | 723,557 – 1,061,299 |
50-64 yrs | 15,913,971 | 13,208,658 – 19,311,326 |
13,568,462 | 11,826,506 – 15,727,105 |
846,409 | 733,918 – 981,387 |
65+ yrs | 9,006,974 | 7,213,160 – 11,366,916 |
7,285,753 | 6,410,796 – 8,382,515 |
1,540,240 | 1,333,781 – 1,806,465 |
All ages | 91,185,370 | 77,838,476 – 107,268,160 | 77,244,188 | 68,692,432 – 87,689,744 | 3,362,790 | 2,971,951 – 3,836,657 |
* Adjusted estimates and rates are presented in two parts: an uncertainty interval [UI] and a point estimate. The uncertainty interval provides a range in which the true number or rate of COVID-19 hospitalization would be expected to fall if the same study was repeated many times, and it gives an idea of the precision of the point estimate. A 95% uncertainty interval means that if the study were repeated 100 times, then 95 out of 100 times the uncertainty interval would contain the true point estimate. Conversely, in only 5 times out of a 100 would the uncertainty interval not contain the true point estimate.
Infection rate per 100,000 | Symptomatic Illness rate per 100,000 | Hospitalization rate per 100,000 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age group | Estimate | 95% UI* | Estimate | 95% UI* | Estimate | 95% UI* |
0-4 yrs | 15,430 | 12,768 – 18,727 | 13,169 | 11,484 – 15,215 | 138 | 113 – 167 |
5-17 yrs | 26,561 | 21,980 – 32,351 | 22,671 | 19,735 – 26,274 | 127 | 99 – 160 |
18-49 yrs | 35,685 | 29,448 – 43,426 | 30,406 | 26,402 – 35,359 | 640 | 528 – 774 |
50-64 yrs | 25,298 | 20,997 – 30,699 | 21,569 | 18,800 – 25,001 | 1,346 | 1,167 – 1,560 |
65+ yrs | 16,662 | 13,343 – 21,027 | 13,478 | 11,859 – 15,506 | 2,849 | 2,467 – 3,342 |
All ages | 27,881 | 23,800 – 32,798 | 23,618 | 21,003 – 26,812 | 1,028 | 909 – 1,173 |