>> YOU’RE WATCHING WCVB NEWSCENTER 5 5:30. ERIKA: THE NUMBER OF AMERICANS HOSPITALIZED WITH COVID-19 HITS AN ALL-TIME HIGH. HERE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS IS DR. HELEN BOUCHER, THE INTERIM DEAN OF TUFTS MEDICAL SCHOOL AND AN INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST AT TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER. ANTHK YOU FOR BEING HERE. >> NICE TO SEE YOU. BEN: WE KNOW IT HAS BEEN A VERY DIFFICULT WINTER SO FAR FOR YOU AND YOUR COLLEAGUES. HOW TO THE HOSPITALIZATION NUMBERS IN MASSACHUSETTS JUST SHY OF THE 3000 MARK COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE COUNTRY? >> WE ARE UNFORTUNATELY CHALLENGED WITH COVID PATIENTS AND NON-COVID PATIENTS AND YOU JUST MENTIONED THE NUMBER OF COVID PATITSEN THAT HAVE COME ON TOP OF WHAT ARE ALREADY INCREDIBLY BUSY HOSPITALS. WE ARE RIGHT UP IN THE TOP 10 OF THE COUNTRIES ARE N WOTHERE WE WOULD LIKE TO BE. ERIKA: LOOKING FOR HOPE. ARE YOU SEEING ANY EVIDENCE YET THE SURGE FROM THE OMICRON VARIANT MAY BE SLOWING? >> WE ARE SLAYING SOME GOOD — WE ARE SEEING SOME GOOD NEWS AROUND THE COUNT.RY NEW YORK CITY, WASHINGTON, D.C., PUERTO RICO SEEM TO BE TRAINED THE CORNER. WHAT WE HOPWEE WILL SEE IS THAT WILL HAPPEN HERE SOON. THERE MAY BE A HTIN IN THE MASSACHUSETTS WASTEWATER STARTING TO COME DOWN. WE ARE HOPEFUL THIS WILL BE A QUKIC SURGE WITH A RAPID DECLINE. BEN: I W JTUSAS LOOKING AT THE WASTEWATER DATA. IT WENT UP DRASTICALLY OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS BUT THEN UNDER THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS, IT HAS STARTED TO DO THE CRASH WNDO WOOD MUCH LIKE WE SAW IN SOUTH AFRICA. LET’S KEEP OUR FINGERS CROSSED WITH THAT NEXT MONDAY, THE STATE WILL CHANGEHE T WAY IT REPORTS DATA ABOUT HOSPITALIZATIONS. INSTEAD OF GETTING ONE NUMBER, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO GET TWO GROUPS. TIPAENTS THAT A BIT — THAT ARE EMITTED BECAUSE OF COVID. THE SECOND GROUP PATIENTS WHO , WERE ADMITTED FOR SOMEINGTH ELSE, BUT JUST HAPPENED TO TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID. BECAUSE THAT IS PART OF THE STANDARD SCREENING PROCEDURE. BASED ON YOUR EXPERIENCET A TUFTS, WHAT DO YOU THINK WE’LL LEARN FROM THE NEW BREAKDOWN? OTHER STATES HAVE STARTED TO DO THIS, NOTABLY NEW YORK, THEY ARE AROUND THE 50-50 MARK. IS THAT WHAT YOU EXPECT HERE? >> THAT IS WHAT WE ARE SEEING NOW. WHEN WE LOOK AT OUR NUMBERS, WE ARE SEEING ABOUT 50% OF INDIVIDUALS ADMITTED WITH COVID BUT ADMITTED FOR A HEART ATTACK, CANCER TREATMENT, SOME OTHER THING. 50% ADMITTED MOSTLY DUE TO COVID. ERA:IK WE WENT TO GET IN AT LEAST ONE OF YOUR QUESTION. MARTY WANTS TO KNOW HOW LGON DO ES IT TAKE TO RECOVER TASTE AND SMELL? ARE THERE ANY TREATMEN?TS >> FOR MOST PEOPLE, IT IS ABOUT OTWFOR MOST PEOPLE, IT IS ABOUT WEEKS TO RECOVER TASTE AND SMELL. THERE IS VARIABILITY. I HAVE SEEN FOLKS WHO RECOVER FASTER AND I HAVE SEEN ONE OR TWO WHO IT TAKES MONTHS. THERE IS REALLY NO SPECIFIC TREATMENT FOR THIS EXCEPT FOR PATI

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Video: Boston doctor shares how COVID hospitalizations in Massachusetts compare to rest of country

Updated: 6:24 PM EST Jan 11, 2022

More than 145,900 people were in U.S. hospitals with COVID-19 as of Tuesday — a number that surpasses America’s previous peak from mid-January 2021.

BOSTON —

More than 145,900 people were in U.S. hospitals with COVID-19 as of Tuesday — a number that surpasses America’s previous peak from mid-January 2021.

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