Here are the latest national COVID-19 trends, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and major wastewater surveillance providers:
- About 1 in every 100,000 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 during the week ending March 7.
- COVID-19 test positivity decreased moderately, from 3.7% of COVID-19 tests returning positive results during the week ending February 28 to 3.4% positive during the week ending March 7.
- SARS-CoV-2 concentration in wastewater decreased 3% between February 28 and March 7, and the national wastewater viral activity level is “low,” per the CDC.
- SARS-CoV-2 concentration in wastewater decreased 14% between February 25 and March 4 and the national wastewater trend is “medium,” per WastewaterSCAN.
- Healthcare visits for influenza-like illness decreased 5% between the week ending February 28 and the week ending March 7, and this metric is now at a moderate level.
National COVID-19 metrics continue to decline in the U.S., but they are moving slowly. This winter’s wave continues to reach into the spring. Flu indicators are also continuing to decline, while RSV levels are higher but may have peaked for this season.
According to wastewater data from the CDC, WastewaterSCAN, and Biobot Analytics, SARS-CoV-2 levels are decreasing for national and most regional averages as of early March. WWSCAN’s national average of SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater has fallen below the lowest points reported in spring 2025, but is still well above the true lows reported early in the pandemic (when precautions were more widespread).
The one exception to this trend is the South: the CDC reported a significant increase in this region’s wastewater viral activity level for the week ending March 7, and WWSCAN reports that activity in this region has not moved much in recent weeks after increasing in late January. While CDC wastewater data are preliminary and often change a lot in later updates, the increase does show up across several states (including Arkansas, Texas, Virginia, and Maryland).
Healthcare system data similarly shows COVID-19 declining in most regions, except parts of the South. COVID-19 test positivity for health region 3, which includes the mid-Atlantic states, has stayed at a moderate plateau since January. Health region 10 (the Pacific Northwest) also has stayed at a plateau.
The CDC’s infectious disease forecasting center estimates that, as of March 10, COVID-19 cases are “growing or likely growing” in only one state, Arkansas, and Washington D.C. Cases are “declining or likely declining” in 36 states.
National flu metrics also continue to decline, though flu activity is still high throughout much of the U.S. RSV remains high as well, after increasing later in the winter than usual: “We are just now reaching the levels of [RSV] activity we typically see in late December/early January,” epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers wrote in her newsletter this week. But this virus may have reached its peak for the year, with test positivity and emergency department visits starting to decline.
In some rare good public health news this week, a federal judge has blocked many actions Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took to attack U.S. vaccine policy. The judge ruled that Secretary Kennedy’s appointments to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee were likely illegal, and stayed all votes this committee took over the past year. The committee also won’t be meeting as originally scheduled for this week. While this legal battle will continue, health experts are hailing the decision as a win.
