As many children in the U.S. prepare to head back to school or have already done so, the country is facing its worst COVID wave for this time of year, data show.
COVID is spreading at especially high rates for late summer and early fall around much of the country: 44 states are experiencing either high or very high COVID levels, . Other CDC data show that levels were higher the week ending Aug. 10, 2024, the most recent available, than in early-to-mid August in 2023 and 2022, both of which had substantial summer COVID waves.
The CDC no longer tracks total cases and primarily uses wastewater data to track COVID levels across the country, as the virus can be detected in human waste. Michael Hoerger, Ph.D.
, associate professor at Tulane University, who leads the , shared in a : "We’re at 1.3 million infections/day in the U.S.
This is the highest known transmission during back-to-school season all-time. An estimated 1 in 24 people in the West region are actively infectious." Hoerger uses data from , which used to provide the CDC with its wastewater data.
The CDC did not immediately respond to TODAY.com's request for comment on how the current COVID wave compares to transmission in previous back-to-school seasons. "This is the second-largest summer wave that we've ever had," Hoerger tells TODAY.
com. "2022 looks like it was a little bit bigger, but we don't know because things could still get a little bit worse." In 2021 and 2020, COVID levels were low during back-to-school due t.