The Sick Times @thesicktimes.org

6 days ago

The U.S.’s summer COVID-19 surge continues, with cases increasing across all regions through early August, driven by travel and gatherings as well as the variant XFG.

This week's full COVID-19 trends by @betsyladyzhets.bsky.social: bit.ly/4mWEUk9

ID: 1) An orange background and a meter indicating moderate wastewater levels of SARS-CoV-2. The text reads:

The U.S.’s summer COVID-19 surge continues, with cases increasing across all regions through early August, driven by travel and gatherings as well as the variant XFG. Despite the obvious increases in COVID-19 spread, the CDC’s wastewater dashboard — which recently updated its methodology — downplays current viral activity levels as “low.”

Wastewater data from the CDC, WastewaterSCAN, and Biobot Analytics all show continued increases in SARS-CoV-2 levels at wastewater testing sites nationwide. Recent levels are much lower than the peaks of summer surges in 2023 and 2024, but this year’s summer wave started later than in prior years and now coincides directly with children starting their school years.

2) Screenshot from the CDC NWSS dashboard. Text reads: "On August 15, 2025, CDC updated the methodology used to calculate the wastewater viral activity level. For more information, visit CDC’s Wastewater Surveillance Data Methodology page.

About the Wastewater Viral Activity Level: The wastewater viral activity level indicates whether the amount of virus in the wastewater is very low, low, moderate, high, or very high. The wastewater viral activity levels may indicate the risk of infection in an area. The wastewater viral activity levels are categorized as follows:

Up to 2 – Very Low
Greater than 2 and up to 3.4 – Low
Greater than 3.4 and up to 5.3 – Moderate
Greater than 5.3 and up to 7.8 – High
Greater than 7.8 – Very High
To learn more on how the wastewater viral activity level is calculated, visit CDC’s Wastewater Surveillance Data Methodology page."

Screenshot from an archived version of the CDC NWSS dashboard, via the Wayback Machine. Text reads: "About the Wastewater Viral Activity Level: The wastewater viral activity level indicates whether the amount of virus in the wastewater is very low, low, moderate, high, or very high. The wastewater viral activity levels may indicate the risk of infection in an area. The wastewater viral activity levels are categorized as follows:

Up to 1.5 – Very Low
Greater than 1.5 and up to 3 – Low
Greater than 3 and up to 4.5 – Moderate
Greater than 4.5 and up to 8 – High
Greater than 8 – Very High
To learn more on how the wastewater viral activity level is calculated, see Data Methods.”

D: 1) An orange background and a meter indicating moderate wastewater levels of SARS-CoV-2. The text reads: The CDC reported a 55% increase in its national wastewater viral activity level between August 2 and August 9, yet surprisingly classifies SARS-CoV-2 activity as “low.” That’s because the agency revised its wastewater categories on Friday — and continued a long-running pattern in which the agency minimizes COVID-19’s continued risk in its data presentation.

Adding confusion, the top of the dashboard claims the current national activity level is “low” even though the latest data point in the CDC’s chart, 3.7, meets the threshold for “moderate.

) A line chart from the CDC, titled "National and Regional Trends: This chart shows national and regional trends of wastewater viral activity levels of SARS-COV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19)." The chart includes five lines representing geographic areas: black for national trends, yellow for the Midwest, purple for the South, light blue for the Northeast, and darker blue-green for the West. The Y axis represents wastewater viral activity level and the X axis represents time, spanning August 2024 to August 2025. The chart shows a surge in summer 2024, one in winter 2024-2025, and recent increases in cases. Despite significant increases in all regions, current levels are labeled as "low" and "moderate."

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