WASHINGTON — You might have forgotten about it, but COVID is on the rise again. Wastewater levels and hospital visits have seen a summer uptick in COVID cases in 44 states and DC.
Over the last few weeks, the amount of COVID in wastewater has risen. The CDC Wastewater Surveillance System has detected higher levels in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
That’s not all, in Virginia, the Department of Health also reports an increase in COVID diagnoses in emergency department visits; from .4% of visits to around 1.4%.
“So while this is still relatively pretty small we are seeing that uptick in proportion starting to tick up and increase week after week since early June,” Elena Diskin from the VDH said.
Didn’t we just see a COVID spike in the winter?
“With COVID we are almost seeming a double peak,” MedStar Health’s infectious disease expert Dr. Glenn Wortmann said. “We are seeing a peak in the winter and again In the summer-like last year.”
Diskin said it might have to do with people trying to beat the summer heat.
“It’s just like in the winter when we see respiratory viruses with kind of more congregated indoor activity,” she said.
However, Wortmann said while the summer ‘Flirt’ variant shows signs of being highly transmissible, it does not appear to be more lethal.
“So it's looking more like a summer cold,” he said. “People get cold get flu symptoms, goes away for most people.”
Both Diskin and Wortmann pointed out that if you are elderly or have pre-existing conditions take precautions. They suggest getting the most updated vaccine and masking in highly populated areas.