COVID-19

Most national Covid-19 metrics point to continued slow declines in disease spread across the U.S. While the country is inching toward a lower-risk spring, levels of SARS-CoV-2 and other common viruses are still high in some places, particularly in the South and Midwest.

Continuing the tentatively good news from last week, all major Covid-19 metrics are trending toward declining disease spread. But there’s still a lot of this virus going around; it will be several more weeks before SARS-CoV-2 levels may actually be called low, especially in South and Midwest states that had late-winter peaks.

Four months into the winter disease season, there’s still a lot of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses going around. Wastewater and other indicators show that Covid-19 levels are still high across the country, not sharply declining as we usually expect for this time of year. Disease levels are particularly high in the South and Midwest.

While Covid-19 is clearly still spreading at high rates across the U.S., data sources are giving us mixed signals as to whether transmission is going up or down. Wastewater surveillance suggests transmission may be increasing in some places and decreasing in others, while healthcare system data show continued, but slow, declines in severe acute Covid-19…