The CDC said on August 12 that COVID-19 infections were growing or likely growing in 50 states and the District of Columbia, turning what began as a regional summer surge into a nationwide problem. Iowa was the lone exception, with too little data for the agency to make a trend estimate.
That is why the latest COVID summer wave is drawing attention now: the CDC is no longer pointing to a cluster of hot spots, but to almost the entire country. Forty-seven states are now classified as Growing, while New Hampshire, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia are marked Likely Growing. No state is listed as Not Changing, Declining or Likely Declining.
The CDC’s Current Epidemic Trends model does not count how many people are sick. It looks at whether transmission is moving up, down or holding steady, and the national estimate remains above the threshold that signals growth. Three weeks ago, on July 22, the agency said infections were growing or likely growing in 37 states, while 11 states were seeing little change. The shift since then is hard to miss. California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Georgia are all showing growth.
Andrew Pekosz said cases are increasing at a relatively steady pace and are not surging dramatically. He also said there are no virus variants or mutants in the United States that are particularly concerning right now. Even so, he urged people to get COVID-19 booster shots, check local pharmacies for antivirals if they get infected and want treatment, and make sure they are current on influenza and RSV vaccines and influenza drugs.
That mix of warning and restraint fits the pattern he described as familiar from past years, with late summer and early fall bringing a predictable rise in cases. Peter Chin-Hong put it more bluntly, saying the data show the country is in a broad national wave of COVID infection. The question now is not whether the wave is real. It is how far it reaches before the next CDC update shows whether the red map has started to fade.
