COVID is surging. Here are 8 articles I'm reading to stay informed as a health editor.
COVID-19 is surging right now. Friends, family and co-workers have all been infected this summer. Yet the summer 2024 version of COVID is very different from what we faced earlier in the pandemic: Testing and tracking isn’t as prevalent, isolation and quarantine rules are murky, sick etiquette is unclear and masks and other precautions are scarce. As a health editor, it’s my job to know the latest on COVID, but, I'll admit, even I’m not following every incremental update on the virus. After all, we are four years into this thing! But I am staying informed. Here’s what I’m reading to keep up with everything — consider this your COVID crib notes.
1. Mapped: COVID summer continues to heat up: “High” to “very high” levels of COVID are being detected in 36 states, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wastewater surveillance data (the CDC no longer tracks the total number of new cases). A heat map puts the summer surge into perspective and highlights that the Western and Southern regions of the United States are getting hit hard by the KP variants (KP.3.1.1, KP.2.3, KP.1.1.3, KP.4.1 and KP.1.2), known as the “FLiRT” variants. [Axios]
2. What’s different about this summer’s FLiRT COVID wave: Well, not a lot actually! The summer bump we’re experiencing was expected as COVID, unlike other coronaviruses, has dual seasonality. This is because, according to infectious disease expert Dr. Amesh Adalja, COVID is still mutating rapidly and creating new variants. It’s too early to tell if this seasonal trend is sticking around for good. Maybe we’ll get a sick-free summer 2025? [Salon]
3. When will COVID rates calm down? Here's the good news: COVID levels are currently lower than the past winter's peak and are at a similar level to the early fall peak in 2023. "We're probably somewhere between a quarter of the way through the wave to 40%, 50%, if we're lucky," according to Michael Hoerger, assistant professor at Tulane University School of Medicine who leads the Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative’s data tracker. [Today]
4. Long COVID puzzle pieces are falling into place — but the picture is unsettling: Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly from the Washington University in St. Louis’s Institute for Public Health wrote about research he conducted with colleagues, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found the risk of long COVID declined throughout the pandemic. While chances of developing long COVID are low (7.7% among unvaccinated adults and 3.5% for vaccinated adults), it’s still a threat “that can result in more than 200 health effects across multiple body systems” and should be taken seriously. [The Conversation]
5. 'The virus wants to live.' California's big COVID spike isn't expected to ease anytime soon: As a California resident, this is unwelcome but unsurprising news: New strains driving the current COVID spread could be around for some time. That’s because the FLiRT variants are changing fast and KP.3.1.1 “has really taken off,” according to Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. “This virus is still very, very new to humans, and the virus wants to live, and the way that it lives is by evading immunity,” she said, adding that COVID hasn't settled into the more predictable pattern that public health officials might be aware of for other infectious diseases, such as the flu. Read the full article for a larger look at metrics, prevention and what to do if you get sick. [Los Angeles Times]
6. Multiple Olympic swimmers, including two Americans, tested positive for COVID but weren’t sent home: The first so-called post-COVID Games has, you guessed it, athletes testing positive for COVID. Multiple swimmers are sick, but athletes aren’t required to quarantine or drop out. In fact, British swimmer Adam Peaty won silver for the 100-meter breaststroke with COVID. There are nine confirmed cases so far, Today reports. [Yahoo Sports/Today]
7. What to do if you feel sick, test positive and want to stay safe: If any of those three categories apply, keep reading for infectious disease expert tips. The first is to test (here are the best ones — and a reminder that they’re eligible to be covered by a flexible spending account or health savings account. If you’re positive and at-risk, consider Paxlovid. Lastly, put together your vaccine plan. [Verywell Health]
8. What to know about the updated COVID vaccines coming this fall: COVID vaccine time is just around the corner. Don’t think of these shots as boosters anymore, though. Instead, reframe them like annual influenza shots. “It's a reformulation based on what's circulating, and this is why we're talking about an annual campaign rather than a booster," Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital, said. The 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccines, expected in the fall, will target the JN.1 lineage and are recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older. Check out this chart for a cheat sheet. [ABC News]
