COVID in the U.S. - Is this the biggest Covid summer wave ever?

TallGuyJohninBKK · August 10

A rise in Covid infections began in early June, and wastewater data from the CDC shows levels are still rising.

Aug. 9, 2024

The U.S. is in what may end up being its biggest summer wave of Covid, with no end yet in sight.

“If you just talk about infections, this is probably going to end up becoming the largest summer wave we’ve had,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health and former White House Covid-19 response coordinator. “It’s still not as big as the winter waves, but it is starting to get close.”

It's not only in the U.S. There's been a worldwide surge in infections in recent weeks, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for Covid at the World Health Organization, said in a briefing this week. The proportion of tests coming back positive for Covid in Europe is above 20%, with wastewater data suggesting case numbers may be two to 20 times higher than what's being reported, Van Kerkhove said.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-us-largest-summer-wave-cdc-high-transmission-rcna165765

Summer covid surge hits at least 84 countries and continues to climb

August 7, 2024

A summer covid wave — and the accompanying fevers, coughs and general misery — continues to wash over the Americas and parts of Asia and Europe, including the Paris Olympics, offering the latest evidence that the coronavirus moves in ways distinct from other respiratory ailments.

The World Health Organization said this week that the virus is increasing in at least 84 countries despite perceptions that the pathogen is a remnant of the past. Disease trackers sounded alarms that diminished testing and low vaccination rates could provide fertile terrain for more dangerous viral variants to take hold.

“Covid-19 is still very much with us,” Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, said at a news briefing Tuesday.

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The rise in global cases comes during pandemic fatigue and a decline in testing for the virus and reporting of cases. As a result, health agencies confront significant challenges in monitoring and understanding the virus’s impact.

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Washington Post

https://archive.ph/sFFe9

TallGuyJohninBKK · August 10

The latest COVID update from the U.S. CDC posted yesterday reported COVID causing (the main or contributing cause on death certificates) more than 500 deaths per week in the U.S. and rising as of the end of July, up from a pandemic era low of about 300 per week less than two months ago in early June.

By comparison, the peak of reported COVID deaths in the U.S. was more than 25,000 per week in mid-January 2021. The winter COVID surge in January 2024 peaked at more than 2,500 weekly COVID deaths.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1332736-periodic-covid-updates-for-the-united-states/?do=findComment&comment=19137616