It is Summertime and as in previous summer there is a surge in Covid cases. Here are a trio of articles on the subject. Happy 4th of July!
Above is a photo taken in the Douro River valley of Portugal. Summer travel certainly increases the risk of getting sick. Crowded airports and public transportation put people one on top of the other. Every seat on every plane that I was on was occupied. Only time will tell if I get Covid as many of my patients who have traveled have. I tried to take reasonable precautions. I took a Covid vaccine about two weeks before I left. I worse a mask when in public transport and on flights when people were coughing around me. I took test kits and a prescription for Paxlovid.
The Covid summer wave is here
Infections are most likely rising in at least 39 states, driven in part by a trio of new variants.
Covid on the rise again in dozens of states
June 24, 2024, 5:24 PM CDT
By Aria Bendix
If more people around you seem to be coming down with Covid lately, that’s because infections are indeed on the rise nationally.
Cases are most likely increasing in 39 states and aren’t declining anywhere in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — evidence that an anticipated summer wave is underway.
The CDC no longer tracks Covid cases, but it estimates transmission based on emergency department visits. Both Covid deaths and ED visits have risen in the last week. Hospitalizations also climbed 25% from May 26 to June 1, the latest data available.
California in particular appears to be experiencing a notable rise in infections. The state’s data suggests high levels of coronavirus in wastewater, and Covid has gotten more prevalent there since May. The documented share of Covid tests in California that came back positive has risen from around 3% to 7.5% in the last month or so.
“It looks like the summer wave is starting to begin,” said Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Covid infections have historically spiked over the summer, in part because of an increase in travel and people congregating indoors, where it’s cooler. This year appears to be no exception, though disease experts expect this season’s wave to be milder in terms of severe disease.
Several variants are likely to be contributing to the nationwide trend, said Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
“We’re seeing the start of an uptick of infections that is coincident with new variants that are developing: KP.2 and KP.3 and LB.1. It does appear that those variants do have an advantage over the prior ones,” he said.
All three variants are descendants of JN.1, the version of the coronavirus that took over this winter, so experts think of them as cousins.
KP.2 became the dominant variant in the U.S. last month, and then KP.3 took over in early June. Along with a third variant that shares the same key mutations, KP.1.1, the group accounts for around 63% of Covid infections in the U.S. Some scientists collectively refer to the variants as “FLiRT” — a reference to their amino acid changes.
LB.1 accounts for another 17.5% of Covid infections. Experts said its rapid growth indicates that it’s likely to become dominant soon, though scientists still want to study it more closely.
“It’s sort of the newest kid on the block,” Barouch said. “There’s not much known about it.”
A preprint paper released this month, which hasn’t been peer-reviewed, suggests that LB.1 is more infectious than the “FLiRT” variants and could be better at evading protection from vaccines or previous infections.
“Assuming that preliminary data is true, that it’s more immune-evasive and that it’s more infectious than KP.2 and KP.3, that’s a winning formula to infect more people,” Russo said.
The CDC doesn’t regularly track Covid symptoms over time, so it’s hard to know whether illnesses caused by any of the new variants look any different. For the most part, Covid symptoms have been consistent for the last two-plus years.
Variants aside, several other factors could help the virus spread this summer. Experts said cases will probably continue to rise as people retreat indoors to escape this month’s punishing heat wave and gather to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Russo recommended that people who are the most vulnerable to infection — those who are older or immunocompromised or engage in riskier activities, such as attending large parties or gatherings — consider getting the latest Covid vaccine now if they haven’t already.
He added that a monoclonal antibody drug called Pemgarda has been available since April for immunocompromised people. The antiviral medication Paxlovid should also help reduce the likelihood of hospitalization or death.
But most young, healthy people can hold out for the updated Covid vaccines expected to arrive this fall, experts said. The Food and Drug Administration advised vaccine manufacturers this month to target the KP.2 variant. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet Thursday to decide who should get those shots.
A vaccine targeting KP.2 vaccine won’t be a direct match for the dominant strain come fall — the variant declined in prevalence last week compared to two weeks before.
“The virus already appears to be evolving beyond what’s going to be the fall boosters, and it’s only June,” Barouch said. Even so, he added, the updated vaccines should still protect against the various variants circulating right now.
Aria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.
COVID-19 Emergency Room Visits, Deaths On The Rise In The US
USA Today (7/2, Cuevas) reports, “More people are ending up in emergency rooms and dying in recent weeks from COVID-19, federal health data showed.” There was “a 23% increase in emergency department visits in the past week, according to CDC data posted on Monday. The data was taken from the week of June 22, the latest available data, which showed the weekly percentage of emergency room visits diagnosed as COVID-19 was at 0.9%.” Meanwhile, “deaths have jumped 14% in the past week.”
CBS News (7/2, Tin) reports, “Levels of SARS-CoV-2 virus showing up in wastewater samples are climbing in most parts of the country, according to figures from the agency through June 27.” Nonetheless, around the country, “levels of the virus in wastewater are still ‘low,’ the CDC says. But across the West, preliminary figures from the most recent weeks show this key COVID-19 trend has now passed above the threshold that the agency considers to be ‘high’ levels of the virus.”
COVID KP.3 variant remains dominant in the US making up 33.1% of cases:
With a two-week period ending on June 22, the CDC Nowcast data tracker is reporting that KP.3 positive cases are at 33.1%.
USA TODAY
Positive cases for the COVID-19 KP.3 variant are rising, according to newly released data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The KP.3 variant has risen from accounting for 25% of positive cases to 33.1%. The KP.3 variant has become the new frontrunner after JN.1 held the reigns for several months after making its first appearance in 2023.
Using the CDC’s Nowcast data tracker, it shows the projections of the COVID variants over a two-week period. The tool is used to help estimate current prevalence of variants, but does not predict future spread of the virus, the CDC said.
“Estimates predict that KP.3 is the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant making up 22-46% of viruses nationally,” CDC Spokesperson, Rosa Norman, said in a statement to USA TODAY. “KP.3 is projected to continue increasing as proportions of the variants that cause COVID-19.”
The government agency’s data tracker shows that for the two-week time period between June 9 and June 22 the KP.3 variant is at 33.1%. Closely following behind is KP.2 at 20.8% and new variant LB.1 at 17.5% while JN.1 only has 1.6% of positive cases, the data shows.
On June 18, the CDC said that the COVID-19 infections are growing in 39 states, stable or uncertain in 10 states and declining in zero.
Here’s what you need to know about the KP.3 variant.
What is the KP.3 variant?
Like JN.1 and “FLiRT” variants KP.1.1 and KP.2, KP.3 is a similar strain. Norman said that the KP.3 variant is, “a sublineage of the JN.1 lineage” which comes from the Omicron variant.
What are symptoms of KP.3?
Norman says the symptoms associated with KP.3 are identical to those from JN.1. Which include:
- Fever or chills
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Congestion or runny nose
- Headache
- Muscle aches
- Difficulty breathing
- Fatigue
- New loss of taste or smell
- “Brain fog” (feeling less wakeful and aware)
- Gastrointestinal symptoms (upset stomach, mild diarrhea, vomiting)
The CDC notes that the list does not include all possible symptoms and that symptoms may change with new variants and can vary by person.
In general, the agency says, people with COVID-19 have a wide range of symptoms, ranging from mild to severe illness. Symptoms may appear two to 14 days after exposure.
How can we protect ourselves if we are concerned about the KP.3 variant?
Norman suggests that everyone that is 6 months old and older get the 2023–2024 COVID-19 vaccine. She said the vaccine will help to protect against any serious illnesses from COVID.
COVID-19 positivity rates, deaths and hospitalizations
CDC data shows which states has the lowest and highest COVID-19 positivity rates from June 8, 2024 to June 17, 2024.
Within the past week COVID test positivity has risen to 5.4%, the CDC data shows.
Norman said that COVID-19 related deaths and hospitalizations remain low since March 2020. On March 28, 2020 there were 3,211 reported COVID-19 related deaths for that week in the United States. The following week on April 4, 2020 the death toll rose to 10,113. Now in 2024 there have been 132 deaths reported as of June 8, CDC data shows.
