Rates of severe disease may be staying at relatively low levels, but experts agree that there are probably more infections than the current surveillance systems can capture.

“There is more transmission out there than what the surveillance data indicates,” said Janet Hamilton, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. “And we should be paying attention to it, because we are starting to see an increase.”

Weekly hospital admissions have nearly doubled over the past month, including a 19% bump in the most recent week, CDC data shows. And a sample of laboratories participating in a federal surveillance program show that test positivity rates have tripled in the past two months.

There are some hopeful signs: Biobot data shows that wastewater levels may be starting to flatten, and relatively low hospitalization rates suggest that there may be a lower risk of severe disease for many.

  • Aesculapius@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    89
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Physician here. The best marker we have of covid prevalence is wastewater testing. With the availability of home kits (and no reporting) and people refusing to test when symptomatic, the old markers of positivity rates and number of positive tests aren’t as valid. Even hospitalization numbers can fluctuate for multiple reasons. Municipal wastewater testing truly gives a sense of covid in a population.

        • gornar@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Definitive diagnosis is kind of like, a thing in medicine. We like knowing what stuff is, so should things take a turn for the worse, the correct treatment can be applied. We try not to guess in medicine, or go “welp, no idea, good luck, kid!”

          • freeindv@monyet.cc
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            10
            ·
            1 year ago

            Did they need treatment? You test to determine treatment, otherwise don’t test and stay home if you can. Testing for the sake of knowing it’s harmful to society.

        • hitmyspot@aussie.zone
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Let’s you know which disease you have so you can more accurately know how to protect others. If you’ve a cold, stay home…if you’ve the flu, stay in bed and isolated. If you have covidy stay isolated and get meals delivered to bedroom.with mask and use separate bathroom etc.

          A test doesn’t fix covid but if we don’t test, you have to assume every respiratory infection is covid and that’s not ideal for those with kids that get sick on average 14 times a year.

    • runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Wastewater-based emidemiology guy here. Thank you for your recognition of the field! I work at a competitor of Biobot, and what I find interesting is the article claiming Biobot data showing a plateau, as our data is showing a significant uptick over the month of August.

      On a different note, the majority of funding for WBE and wastewater surveillance comes from state/federal coffers, so please ask your colleagues to write to your representatives and ask for more funding towards WBE.

    • crowsby@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      That’s what I’ve been thinking. I can’t even recall the last time I heard of anyone I know taking a PCR covid test.

      And that makes it challenging trying to manage behavior. I’ve definitely noticed a marked uptick in people I know that have gotten covid in the past couple weeks, but when I try to look at the data to validate my anecdotal experience, it’s difficult to find compared to two years ago. Oregon, for example, has wastewater monitoring, but the page used to convey the data doesn’t work on mobile and is confusing to use at best.

    • tider06@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      We can barely find test kits around us, and they are stupid expensive when we do find them. Like 10 bucks apiece.

      If it’s still running rampant, maybe the tests should still be affordable (or better yet, free).

    • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      48
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Just wear a mask, jeez.

      If only. I was so hopeful early in COVID that Western countries would embrace mask wearing when sick. But noooo, dipshits had to politicize it and make it a wedge issue.

    • June@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yep, starting back up with that now. We’re also coming into flu season soon which is def mask season.

  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    1 year ago

    I want to know if there’s a random unrelated bug going around too, or if this new strain just has heavy impact on the back of the throat and that is it. Seems like everyone I work with has had had some weird impossible-to-clear-your-throat virus that doesn’t lead to much coughing or any sneezing so folks aren’t staying home. If that’s the new covid it makes a lot of sense why it would be spreading.

    • jcit878@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      had exactly this, one of my worst illnesses in my life, but neg on the test. similar thing ripped through work

      • beaubbe@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Same here. Took multiple rapid tests, all negative. Maybe the new strain does not work well with the test, or it is an unrelated illness. Canada here BTW.

        • runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          The mutations in this strain (EG.5) shouldn’t be affecting the rapid-test target. Most kits use both the N -gene and S-gene to account for potential future mutations, and both genes have only small number of point-mutations across those two genes. If you want to waste an afternoon check out outbreak.info and look at the lineage comparison tool.

        • bufordt@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          My experience with the tests has been very mixed. My wife has had COVID multiple times, and she has tested negative many times, both at home and at the doctor and then as she’s starting to recover, around day 4 or 5 she will test positive.

          I, in the other hand, have never tested positive although I did feel slightly under the weather for a couple days the last time she had it.

    • Compactor9679@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Sure rhere is, notice how ibfluenza was erradicated when everybody blamed anything that happened on COVID?

  • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    I find this article weird, I can’t think of anyone I know who currently has COVID, and despite the fact most people are going around maskless things seem pretty quiet on the viral front. This makes it seem like just everyone has COVID. I realize numbers are going back up but I don’t think it’s quite like they make it out?

    I will still be masking until the dawn of time and am at six shots and counting. I absolutely do not understand why anyone stopped masking.

      • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        I work in a hospital. We have a scattered handful of people who are there for something else and also have a mild case of COVID, but nobody unvaccinated on a vent or ECMO or anything.

    • Album@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yep knew some ppl who had it last month but I don’t know any one with it lately

    • wulrus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s not that surprising. “Only” about 0.2 % - 2 % get infected per week (depending on where you are), so there got to be some people who don’t know anyone who got it recently.

    • Compactor9679@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      They have COVID, they have the normal COVID symptons just people are not crazy about it

  • ALilOff@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Completely off topic,

    But wild to me that I know exactly where that Walgreens is. Surprised there ain’t a drunk stumbling in that photo.

  • Compactor9679@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    12
    ·
    1 year ago

    Hahahahha ohhhh my God!! Another Covid whatever. Lets all lockdown hahaha fucking idiots

  • downpunxx@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    39
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’ve been wearing a mask in public since I saw people start dropping dead on the streets of wuhan in january of 2020, right through when fauci himself was advocating against public mask wearing (a purposeful lie at the start of the western pandemic, to free up ppe for first responders), and the entire time since then, i’m as vaccinated and up to date on the latest bivalent boosters i can possibly be, and I’m still agog at home many people are walking around like it’s over, there’s nothing to worry about, grammy will be fine, maybe

    • pixxelkick@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      67
      arrow-down
      7
      ·
      1 year ago

      right through when fauci himself was advocating against public mask wearing

      It was specifically advocating against people who were stockpiling/hoarding disposable masks, which were in limited supply and needed far more by first responders, doctors, nurses, etc. Hospitals at that time literally were running out of masks.

      The CDC recommendation at the time was to use reusable cloth masks, which werent/arent as good most of the time, but way way better than nothing at all.

      It was a temporary recommendation as the economy was pivoting to bump up supply to compensate. The US proceeded to enlist a bunch of fabric companies to start producing more masks as fast as possible to compensate, so there was about a 2~3 week period where the public needed to prioritize.

      It’s unfortunate a lot of people have taken to misquoting this time period as “Dr Fauci said using masks was bad” or such, which is deeply misrepresenting the state of things.

      • HubertManne@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        yeah people don’t seem to get nuance. Ive seen folks complain about people with insufficient masks as being useless and its like. They are not useless and as a matter of fact there are diminishing returns on quality which is why I use a kn95 over an n95 and keep a gater around in case I went out not expecting to be near folks but stumble into needing one. Is it as good. No. Is it wwwaaayyy better than nothing. Yes.

      • downpunxx@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        18
        arrow-down
        27
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Bite me : https://www.newsweek.com/fauci-said-masks-not-really-effective-keeping-out-virus-email-reveals-1596703
        Fauci knew precisely what he was purposefully doing and what he was saying, and sided with trying to defend as many first responders/medical professionals as he could, which is completely understandable, but it’s a choice that was made by him, and the trolley question he answered at that time which he later revised to “for gods sake everyone should be wearing masks”, which anyone who was watching the people drop dead in Wuhan, already knew

      • blanketswithsmallpox@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        23
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s unfortunate a lot of people have taken to misquoting this time period as “Dr Fauci said using masks was bad” or such, which is deeply misrepresenting the state of things.

        Let’s dispel once and for all with this fiction that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows EXACTLY what he’s doing.

    • HubertManne@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I still mask not because of covid but because I have not been sick in any significant way since 2019. Maybe even late 2018. Before that I used to get sick about once a year. maybe go 18 months without being sick but maybe being sick again in 3 months. Now I have went practically 5 years (I don’t recall the last time I was sick I just remember the approx rate it showed up in the before times) and if I don’t have something specific I need my mouth hole for then its staying covered unless im at home or outside without being near anyone (like when I walk my dog)

        • HubertManne@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Once a year. And yeah. I know. Crazy right. So. So. Onerous. To wear something on your face like you would your hands, or feet, or top of your head. For some silly reason like its a tad cold, or my religion says I should, or its in fashion. Yeah that is just the type of incredibly disciplined person I am. To take on such an arduous task.

        • Freeman@lemmy.pub
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          17
          ·
          1 year ago

          I cited sources that included primary sources in their articles/citations.

          It may not be what some folks want to hear. But just because “you hate it doesn’t make it hate speech.“

          • Jay@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            10
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            Maybe it’s because you didn’t even bother to read them?

            You claim natural infection gives you better immunity response, the article states “experts say, that’s on par with what’s provided through two doses of an mRNA vaccine.” and that “Still, experts stress that vaccination is the preferable route to immunity, given the risks of Covid”

            Then you claimed “the CDC advisory board is showing concerns that too frequent “boosting” may actually be training your immune system to ignore the disease and could have adverse affects.” while the proof you posted says "Boost too soon, and you don’t ramp up protection in any meaningful way, in part because the body hasn’t had enough time to build up a proper immune memory of that first vaccination yet. “It’s not detrimental, it’s just not necessarily as effective as a later boost,”

            • Freeman@lemmy.pub
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              arrow-down
              13
              ·
              1 year ago

              Just keep reading its further down.

              The immunity generated from an infection was found to be “at least as high, if not higher” than that provided by two doses of an mRNA vaccine, the authors wrote.

              While Murray and Wachter agreed that vaccination remains the safest route, having a past Covid infection should at least be considered in policymaking decisions going forward, such as vaccination requirements, they said.

              Its also important to note that paper was just after the “Omicron” variant, so relatively new in the timeline of what we knew.

              Then you claimed “the CDC advisory board is showing concerns that too frequent “boosting” may actually be training your immune system to ignore the disease and could have adverse affects.”

              These are concerns that have been voiced. Both in the EU and the US.

              Marco Cavaleri, European Medicines Agency’s head of vaccines strategy, expressed similar concerns over doling out additional vaccine doses every few months—an approach he said is “reactive.”

              “While use of additional boosters can be part of contingency plans, repeated vaccinations within short intervals would not represent a sustainable long-term strategy,” Cavaleri told a media briefing in January. “We should be careful in not overloading the immune system with repeated immunization.”

              https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/events/ema-regular-press-briefing-covid-19-11#event-summary-section

              The point being, and maybe it was a bit more poorly structured initial, is that there isnt a giant consensus here in the medical community, by a long shot. Even if those expressing any doubt are shouted down because voicing doubt is now “misinformation”. The central point here is that repeated vaccination for an otherwise healthy individual is not a sustainable plan. COVID is here to stay, learning to live with it and structure your interactions around it isnt misinformation. I didnt say vaccines arent effective, especially for those with co-morbidities. I didnt say vaccines shouldnt be an option. I said its a personal decision and not something that should be some political dog whistle or joined to some sense of superiority over those that dont feel they need them. If you have some immunity because you have been recently infected, thats as good as a booster. Its lasts as long. That doesnt mean you are a bad person, or irresponsible or inferior to others. Same with if you wear a mask all the time.