A new map from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals areas of the United States where COVID-19 cases are increasing.
For the week ending November 23, about 4.5 percent of COVID-19 cases nationwide came back positive, an increase of 0.3 percent from the previous week.
Some regions had higher test positivity rates than others, with a 6.3% positivity rate in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
There was a 5.7 percent positivity rate in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming; a rate of 4.6 percent in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin; and a rate of 4 percent in Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada.
Additionally, there was a positive rate of 3.9 percent in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; a rate of 3.4 percent in New Jersey and New York; and a 3 percent rate in Delaware, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. All other remaining states had a test positivity rate of 2.5 percent.
CDC data shows that nationwide, 0.5 percent of emergency room visits were associated with COVID-19, a decrease of 1.3 percent from the previous week. New Mexico had the highest rate of emergency room visits associated with COVID-19, at 1.6 percent, followed by Arizona at 1.5 percent, South Dakota at 1.1 percent, North Dakota at 1.0 percent and Colorado at 0.9 percent.
COVID-19 nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), like PCR tests, detect the virus’s genetic material to see if someone is infected. The sample is first processed to extract RNA from the virus, which is then transformed into DNA using a special enzyme.
Many copies of a specific part of the virus’s DNA are then made using a process called amplification, which makes it easier to detect even small amounts of the virus. As copies are made, a special dye lights up if the virus is present, signaling a positive result.
There were 161 deaths from COVID-19 in the week ending November 23, compared to 372 deaths the previous week, and 485 deaths and 560 deaths in the previous two weeks.
This comes as levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater – the virus that causes COVID-19 – were deemed “very high” by the CDC in New Mexico for the period of November 10-16, 2024, and “high”. in Arizona, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Dakota.
If you or your loved one resides in a nursing home, it is important to get vaccinated against influenza, RSV and COVID-19, especially as the peak of respiratory virus season approaches. Talk to a healthcare professional today about the benefits of vaccination. More in this week… pic.twitter.com/lQWkNkHK8z
– CDC (@CDCgov) November 21, 2024
“SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is constantly changing and accumulating mutations in its genetic code over time. New variants of SARS-CoV-2 are expected to continue to emerge. Some variants will emerge and will disappear, while others will emerge and continue to spread and may replace previous variants,” the CDC said in a statement.
CDC data shows that for the two weeks leading up to November 23, the KP.3.1.1 subvariant accounted for 44 percent of total COVID infections, with the new XEC variant accounting for 38 percent and MC.1 totaling 6 percent. hundred.
This roughly matches the variants found in wastewater as of November 16, with KP.3.1.1 making up 34 percent, XEC making up 21 percent, and KP.3 making up 18 percent.
“There is no evidence, nor any particular reason to believe, that XEC causes symptoms different from all other currently circulating SARS-CoV-2s,” said François Balloux, professor of computational systems biology. at University College London in England. News week.
“XEC should not cause more (or less) severe symptoms than other lines currently in circulation.”
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