A summer Covid surge is happening even though many have moved on from the virus

A summer Covid surge is happening even though many have moved on from the virus California, Kentucky and Hawaii are seeing some of the highest levels of activity - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments While overall respiratory illness activity remains very low across the U.S., there are signs of another summer Covid spike. Emergency department visits for the disease are increasing, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, rising from 0.1 percent of visits to 0.3 percent of visits between July and August. While most states have a very low level of activity, four are seeing moderate to high activity and nearly all states are seeing growing cases, according to the agency. California, Kentucky and Hawaii are reporting moderate levels in wastewater data and Alaska is seeing high activity. Wastewater data has become the most reliable tracking method, because people have stopped testing as much as they did during the height of the pandemic. “As of August 5, 2026, we estimate that Covid-19 infections are growing or likely growing in 43 states, declining or likely declining in 0 states, and not changing in 7 states,” the CDC wrote in a summary of current trends.. Data from the infectious disease-monitoring and university-led WastewaterSCAN Dashboard also shows high activity levels in the past 21 days in the majority of the western and southern U.S. The highest levels were in cities in coastal states, including California and Florida. The new trends come after the CDC recorded a similar increase in activity last August. "If you look back over the last few years ... the lowest rates across the country are usually late June, early July, and then in August you start to see this increase in rates," Dr. Susan Kline, a professor in the division of infectious diseases and international medicine at the University of Minnesota, told HuffPost. "And last year there was actually a peak in late August, going into mid-September. And we don't know for sure if that's going to be replicated this year, but it is a possibility," she said. Experts say Covid may have fallen into a seasonal pattern, similar to the flu. Although, the Covid pattern is likely more variable than the traditional flu. That is because fewer people are getting Covid shots than flu shots - largely due to vaccine hesitancy - and variants continue to emerge. The number of adults who said they probably would not or wouldn’t get a Covid has been rising since last fall, the CDC says. People who have Covid have a wide range of symptoms, but infections can result in death for both healthy and unhealthy individuals. More than 1.1 million Americans died during the height of the pandemic, according to a tracker from Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. Covid vaccines can reduce the risk of serious illness and past research has shown they helped save millions of lives. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments