By the numbers: Roughly 34,000 people diagnosed or being evaluated for COVID-19 were in the hospital at the beginning of June — down from 40,000 in the middle of May, according to state data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.

Seven states — Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska and Tennessee — still don’t report the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19.

Between the lines: Hospitalizations help show where coronavirus outbreaks have been severe, but they are a lagging indicator of an area’s actual infection rate and could underestimate the spread if people die in their homes or before making it to the hospital.

The good news: Hospitalizations have steadily decreased in the biggest coronavirus hotspots: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois and Louisiana.