An Unwelcome Visitor Returns This Summer. Hint: It’s Covid.

July 27, 2023

(Wall Street Journal) – Summer is bringing us hot days, vacations—and a Covid bump. If you are surprised to learn that your neighbor, co-worker or kid’s best friend just tested positive for Covid-19, don’t be. Measures of Covid rates including virus levels in wastewater, ER visits, test positivity and hospital admissions are increasing nationally, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The good news is that we are starting from very low rates.

Doctors are watching the current trends for clues to Covid’s yearly pattern going forward. Other respiratory viruses such as flu and RSV typically start spreading in the fall and peak in the winter. Covid, a much newer virus that has mutated a lot since emerging a few years ago, so far has had winter surges as well as summer bumps, like we’re seeing again this year. (Read More)