Summer COVID value: Where cases are on the rise

The US is in the midst of what has become an annual summer spike in COVID cases. In fact, the nation is experiencing its largest increase in summer infections on record, according to records of positive tests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the last four summers, the peak of positive tests rose between July and August:

• 2020: 7.5% week ended July 11
• 2021: 11.2% week ended August 21
• 2022: 14.3% week ended July 23
• 2023: 14.5% week ended August 26

This year, cases have risen steadily since May, with positive testing projected to reach 18.1% in the week ending August 10. If the CDC confirms this preliminary statistic, it would mark the first time in more than 2 1/2 years that the test positivity exceeded. 16%. Even that may be an understatement; with home COVID tests widely available, not everyone who tests positive reports their infection to the state health department.

So if you’ve noticed people wearing masks in crowded places, testing high-demand kits at your local pharmacy, and colleagues claiming to be sick, you haven’t time-lapsed back into 2020. Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 are expected to will decline the week ending August 10, after rising since late spring. It was also estimated that deaths would decrease after a large part of the summer increased. However, the percentage of ED visits involving a diagnosis of COVID continued its net climb.

All this, and the coronavirus is no longer a pandemic. The US public health emergency ended in May 2023, days after the World Health Organization declared that the virus “no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern”. According to the CDC, COVID has moved to become endemic, meaning it is a disease that, like the flu, is always present in a population. Dr. Donald Dumford, an infectious disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic Akron General, says wealth the growth pattern seems to repeat itself every six months.

Highest number of COVID-19 infections in south central states

Travel is a driver of the spread of infection, and summer is prime time for globetrotting. This spring, Tripadvisor’s 2024 Summer Travel Index showed that 95 percent of respondents planned to travel as much or more than they did last summer. Their top domestic destination? Las Vegas – located in a part of the country where positivity for COVID tests is now high.

In the four-week period ending August 10, the national positive test rate was 15.6%. During that time, five states in the south-central US had the highest 21% positive test results. These states collectively form CDC Region 6:

• Arkansas
• Louisiana
• New Mexico
• Oklahoma
• Texas

States in Region 9 — Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada — had the next highest four-week positivity rate at 18.8 percent. Ten other states in two Midwest regions were also above the national average. No state — such as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands — had a positivity rate below 10 percent.

While summer vacation is over for some in mid-August, countless school districts don’t resume classes until September, and other travelers still have some jet-setting to do before fall arrives. Dumford recommends proper sleep, hydration and nutrition to keep you healthy on the road. If you’re traveling to nearby places, you may want to consider revisiting the public health habits you adopted in the early days of the pandemic.

“For those traveling, consider wearing a well-fitting mask while at the airport and during the flight,” Dumford said wealth last week. “That’s my particular strategy, just to think that it’s a time where I’m exposed to a large group of people — with the chance that some will choose to fly while they’re sick because they already had a trip planned where they spent many years. money on.”

This latest surge in COVID-19 may lose steam in the fall, when the 2024-2025 vaccines, made by Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax, become available. The CDC recommends vaccination for everyone 6 months of age and older; if you are 65 or older or have a compromised immune system, ask your doctor if you are eligible for additional doses of the vaccine.

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