Cases of other respiratory illnesses, including flu and RSV, are also on the rise.

Several key COVID-19 trends that authorities track are now accelerating around the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday. It’s the first major nationwide uptick in the spread of the virus seen in months.

The largest increases are in the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic, the agency said in its weekly report updated Friday, though virtually all regions of the country are now seeing accelerations.

Data reported by the agency from emergency rooms and wastewater sampling have tracked some of the steepest increases so far this season in the region spanning Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Rates of infections of nursing home residents across this Midwestern region have also soared in recent weeks, higher than in most other parts of the country, approaching levels not seen since the peak of last winter’s COVID-19 wave.

  • Silverseren
    16•7 months ago

    I don’t believe the most recent vaccine released is fully up to date with the most recent ascendant variants. Unfortunately, even with the increased speed of conception and production that mRNA vaccines allow, large-scale viral pathogens still manage to mutate at a faster rate.

    If the rate of spread was reduced through other measures than just vaccinations, we’d have a better capability to create up to date versions in time to be relevant.

    But we’re not doing any such measures, are we?

      • @[email protected]
        8•7 months ago

        Puts on tinfoil hat

        Considering this research was published a year and a half ago, is any of it going into actual vaccine production? I feel like big pharma loves the idea of needing yearly or bi-yearly covid vaccines far more than the idea of a single vaccine that provides universal antibodies.

        • DarkGamer
          5•7 months ago

          A typical vaccine development timeline takes 5 to 10 years, and sometimes longer

          • @[email protected]
            2•7 months ago

            Removes tinfoil hat

            That makes sense! Hopefully this will allow the Covid vaccine to become a normal single inoculation we can add to our list of “viruses we’ve all but ended”

        • DarkGamer
          4•7 months ago

          I don’t think that one is available yet, but it could mean an end to this game of covid strain whack-a-mole.