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After a relatively slow start to the respiratory virus season, levels of Covid-19 in the United States began to rise before the start of the winter holidays.
In previous years, levels of Covid-19 typically began to rise in early November and peaked at the end of December. But this year, according to runoff monitoring, the levels were the lowest in October and November. Data From the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although trends started to change in early December, it continued to rise from lows to highs by the middle of the month. In the week ending December 21, nearly three times as many cases of Covid-19 were reported in the United States as in the week ending December 7, according to CDC data.
This increase has occurred in all regions of the country, but has been particularly pronounced in the Midwest, where levels of Covid-19 are twice as high as in other parts of the country.
Some experts worry that an unusually long spike in infections could leave more people vulnerable to the disease during the holiday season.
In social media Post In mid-December, Dr. Michael Horger, a researcher at Tulane University School of Medicine, called the latest wave of Covid-19 transmissions “a slow-moving silence from nowhere.”
Horger's Covid-19 prediction model draws heavily on data from the CDC's wastewater surveillance, and estimates show that if there was no testing or isolation policy, there was a 1 in 8 chance of exposure to Covid-19 when 10 people gathered. On Christmas Day. On a plane with more than 100 people there was a 3 in 4 chance of exposure.
The rapid increase in cases is related to a new dominant coronavirus variant called XEC.
XEC is a hybrid of two JN.1 variants, of which Omicron was a sub-variant, for most cases last winter, according to the CDC. Agency Data As it turns out, the XEC variant has been circulating in the US for months, but FLiRT leaked one of its variants – KP.3.1.1 – between late November and the first week of December. From December 8 to 21, XEC has 45% of new cases, compared to 15% of cases two months ago.
Variants are expected to be “gradual changes in the virus, known as mutations, that result in new viruses that appear different to your immune system.” CDC says. But this novelty is what makes the mutants escape your immune system and make you sick.
Because the variants currently circulating are similar to each other, the latest Covid-19 vaccines are still expected to be effective against severe illness or death, but vaccination rates have lagged. The CDC estimates that only 21 percent of adults and 10 percent of children have received their covid-19 vaccine this season.
And despite the slow onset of Covid-19, recent Predictions Official models from the CDC predict that there will be as many hospitalizations from respiratory viruses as there were last year.
Overall, respiratory virus activity is high in the US. Flu rates were high and rising for a few weeks before covid-19 levels began to rise, and RSV levels would also rise. According to CDC data, there were about 6 respiratory virus hospitalizations for every 100,000 people in the US.
And outbreaks of some other infectious diseases — including whooping cough and norovirus — are worse than they have been in more than a decade.
Norovirus is a common and highly contagious virus that causes gastrointestinal symptoms. According to the CDC's surveillance systems, nearly 500 outbreaks have been recorded since August, a third more than last year.
Whooping cough, also known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory disease. For many, the bacterial infection begins with flu-like symptoms — runny nose, sneezing, low-grade fever and tickling — but a painful, full-body cough can develop a week or two later. These coughing fits are so severe that they can cause patients to faint or break ribs, and are often accompanied by a hoarse voice as the person struggles to catch their breath.
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Although a dry cough can be serious at any age, children under 1 year of age are especially vulnerable as their immune systems are developing. This is especially true for infants and young children who have not received all recommended vaccinations.
They were over 32,000 cases have been reported According to preliminary data from mid-December this year – about six times more than at this time last year and more than since 2014.
According to the latest CDC data, children now have the highest number of emergency room visits for flu and RSV. Covid-19 visits are most common among the elderly, followed closely by children under 5 years of age.