COVID-19 levels in the United States were at their lowest of the pandemic in April and May, but growth in activity across several states indicates the possible start of a summer rise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest respiratory disease snapshot. as reported by CIDRAP.
“CDC will continue to monitor to see if these recent increases persist,” the agency said, adding that rates of COVID hospitalizations are rising in adults ages 65 and older in some western locations.
Activity Rises in the West
On X yesterday, the California Department of Public Health reported an uptick in COVID activity in the state and urged people to take preventive measures such as staying home and testing when sick, seeking treatment if positive, and masking when indoors.
COVID-19 test positivity and emergency department (ED) visits, considered early indicators, are up from very low levels. Nationally, ED visits were up 23.3% from the week before, with Hawaii in the highest category, and a few western states reporting higher levels than the country as a whole, according to the latest CDC COVID data. Test positivity rose slightly to 8.1% and is highest in Hawaii and western regions of the country. report from NPR.
Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 detections are still classified as low nationally, but trends show a steep rise in the West and a more modest rise in the South.
In updated SARS-CoV-2 variant proportion estimates last week, the CDC reported another jump in the KP.3 variant, one of the offshoots of JN.1 that is thought to have a greater capacity to evade earlier immunity from natural infection or vaccination.
