As the summer travel season peaks, health experts are observing a notable uptick in COVID-19 cases across the United States, with the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicating a rise in test positivity rates. This increase is primarily attributed to heightened travel activity and social gatherings, which have become commonplace during the summer months.
For the week ending June 8, the national COVID-19 test positivity rate was recorded at 5.4%, marking a 0.8% increase from the previous week. Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease specialist at the University of North Carolina, explained the seasonal trend: "We do see increases in the late summer months. That may be due to travel, kids coming back from camp, and all sorts of travel that people do across the country and internationally."
Regional Variations and Wastewater Data
The West Coast has emerged as a hotspot, with COVID-19 test positivity rates there reaching 12.8%, significantly higher than any other region in the United States. The CDC's wastewater data supports this observation, showing that viral levels have more than doubled along the West Coast over the past month. Conversely, COVID-19 wastewater levels in other regions, such as Wake County, have remained relatively low.
Dr. Wohl noted that despite the overall low levels, the presence of new, more transmissible sub-variants requires ongoing vigilance, especially for high-risk groups such as senior citizens and individuals with respiratory conditions. "They are more catchy -- they don't make you more sick. They are more catchy," Wohl said. "It's not the same COVID-19 we had in the beginning. It is getting better at spreading."
Managing the Virus with Improved Immunity
Experts believe that a combination of better virus management and high levels of immunity is helping to prevent widespread outbreaks. Dr. Cameron Wolfe, a professor of medicine at Duke University, emphasized that while there is an increase in cases, it is not comparable to previous peaks. "To put it proportionally to like where we were in many winters, we are at a very, very low rate of COVID, compared to some of our peaks," Wolfe said. "There's just this little drift upwards, perhaps in the last few weeks."
Public health officials recommend that individuals, particularly those in high-risk groups, continue to take precautions. This includes wearing masks on airplanes and other crowded settings and keeping track of local COVID-19 trends using tools like the CDC's wastewater data tracker.
Hospitalizations and Deaths Remain Low
As of mid-June, hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 in the U.S. remain stable. For the week ending May 18, the CDC reported 311 deaths related to COVID-19, the lowest number since the pandemic began. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, pointed out that most hospitalizations and deaths are occurring among high-risk populations, such as the elderly and immunocompromised individuals.
Chin-Hong advised that the average person should not be overly concerned about the rise in cases but should remain informed and prepared. "I think there's a fine balance between ignoring everything and being scared by everything," he said. "It's like when you're crossing the street. You never just run across a busy road; you always look both ways, but it doesn't mean you don't go to the next destination."
Looking ahead, Dr. Wolfe recommends that individuals assess their personal risk and consider getting vaccinated with the updated COVID-19 vaccines expected to roll out in late September. "Very much in the same way that flu vaccines are tailored each year to adapt to the strains that we see, the same is occurring with COVID," he said.
