2023-07-31 06:06:23
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States have detected signs of a “late summer” outbreak of Covid-19 in the country.
“After about six or seven months of steady decline, the situation is starting to pick up again,” Dr. Brendan Jackson, the CDC’s COVID-19 incident manager, told NPR.
The amount of coronavirus detected in wastewater, the percentage of people who test positive for the virus and the number of people Visiting emergency departments seeking care for Covid-19 began to rise in early July, Jackson explained.
“We have observed an increase in the first indicators in recent weeks, and this very week, for the first time in a long time, we have also seen an increase in hospitalizationsJackson said. “It could be the start of a late-summer surge.”
According to the latest data from the CDC, hospitalizations increased 10% to 7,109 in the week ending July 15, up from 6,444 the week before.
The increases vary across the country, and the virus appears to be spreading more in the southeast and less in the midwestern United StatesJackson told NPR.
“If we imagine the decline in cases as a ski slope – down, down, down over the last six months – we are starting to see a little ski jump at the bottom,” he said.
Most of those hospitalized are elderly people. And deaths from Covid-19 continue to decline; in fact, deaths have fallen to the lowest level since the CDC began recording them, indicated the expert. However, he cautioned that that could change in the coming weeks if hospitalizations continue to rise.
For now, the CDC has no plans to change the recommendations for what most people should do, such as encouraging people to return to wearing masks.
“For most people, these early signs don’t have to mean much,” he said.
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