Utah's COVID-19 wastewater levels are high as summer surge takes hold

Utah's wastewater is showing "high" levels of COVID-19 as more people get out of their homes this summer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Why it matters: The prevalence of COVID is especially high in the West, where test positivity in the region comprising Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada stood at 15.6%, and viral activity in wastewater has been rising over the past month, CDC data shows.

Threat level: COVID-19 cases are growing or likely growing in 45 states and territories, and more than half of the states have virus levels that are "very high" or "high" as a summertime wave expands.

• Nationally, more than 70% of infections come from KP variants that are descendants of the highly contagious JN.1 strain, which surged over the winter and are among the so-called FLiRT variants .

Zoom in: JN.1 and KP variants are the predominant strains in Utah, Josh Benton, a respiratory disease epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, told Axios.

• If you're showing COVID-19 symptoms, Benton recommends getting tested to determine the best treatment. The CDC recommends testing immediately if you have any symptoms or waiting five days after an exposure.
• One University of Colorado Boulder study recommends waiting two days after you become sick to take a rapid test because the virus could be undetectable until then.

The intrigue: COVID-19 cases have risen in the U.S. every summer, usually around July 4 travel.

• While hospitalizations remain low, the summertime surge poses a risk to the elderly, immunocompromised individuals, and those with respiratory or cardiac conditions.
• As people get more out-of-date with vaccination and the virus mutates, the risk of a severe wave becomes greater.

The latest COVID vaccines target an Omicron subvariant but still offer some protection against the prevailing variants.

• The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months old and up receive updated vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax.

What's next: Drugmakers are eyeing combination flu-COVID-19 vaccines that would offer more convenience and protection against the two respiratory viruses.