More than half of states are now seeing "high" or "very high" levels of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in their wastewater testing, according to figures published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as this summer's COVID wave reaches a growing share of the country. Nationwide, the CDC now says that the overall level of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater is "high" for the first time since this past winter. Levels remain "high" across western states, where trends first began to worsen last month, while other regions are now seeing steeper increases at or near "high" levels.
Friday's update is the first since last month, due to the Fourth of July holiday. The uptick is in line with a growing number of COVID-19 patients showing up in emergency rooms. The District of Columbia and 26 states are now seeing "substantial increases" in COVID-19 emergency room visits, the agency says.
Nationwide, the average share of emergency room patients with COVID-19 is also now the highest it has been since February and has increased 115% from a month ago. Overall emergency room visits and hospitalization trends remain at what the CDC deems to be "low" levels in several states, far below the deadly peaks reached at earlier points during the pandemic. But COVID-19 emergency room visits crossed the threshold into "moderate" levels in Hawaii last month, after a surge that topped the last two waves of the virus.
Florida also is now at "moderate" levels, amid a wave that is at .