(elsevier)
Seven US states have detected “very high” levels of COVID-19 in their wastewater, according to recent estimates released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This marks the first time this summer that levels have reached the CDC’s “high” category. The states with the highest levels are California, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Maryland.
Aron Hall, deputy director for science in the CDC’s Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division, commented on the situation: “We are seeing patterns that are consistent with what we have observed over the last couple of years in the summer, where we have seen upticks in activity that have occurred around this time of year that are not quite as large as what we see during the winter peaks.”
In the San Francisco Bay area, COVID levels in wastewater are comparable to the most recent winter surge, according to data from Stanford University’s WastewaterSCAN project. Amanda Bidwell of WastewaterSCAN told KQED, “The levels were higher than where they were this time last year and on average as high as we saw during the winter peak earlier this year.”
Additionally, 26 states and Washington DC are experiencing “substantial increases” in emergency room visits due to Covid. The national share of COVID-related ER visits has risen by 115 percent since last month, reaching the highest level since February. Nationwide, test positivity stood at 11 percent for the week ending July 6, up from 9 percent the previous week.
Over the past month, 70 percent of COVID-19 infections have been driven by the KP variants, which descend from the JN.1 strain, one of the so-called FLiRT variants, according to an Axios analysis of CDC data. These FLiRT strains are subvariants of Omicron, as reported by Yale Medicine.
The combination of record-breaking summer travel and people congregating indoors to avoid the heat is likely contributing to the rise in cases. Despite the summer surge, experts believe that previous immunity may help keep overall hospitalizations and deaths lower compared to other spikes in case levels.
Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, noted, “About 95 percent of the population currently have identifiable antibodies to Omicron, specifically Omicron variants, so that’s very good herd immunity and it keeps us from having high levels of hospitalization.”
However, she cautioned that this immunity “is only about 45 percent effective at preventing mild and moderate disease for these new strains because of those mutations that these new strains have,” she told the Miami Herald. As the situation evolves, it remains crucial for the public to stay informed and adhere to recommended health guidelines to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.
