COVID in D.C. sees slight bump amid FLiRT variant

More people staying indoors because of extreme heat plus a busy July 4 travel period is expected to fuel more COVID infections amid a summer surge .

The big picture: Fewer people are worrying about the virus, or taking tests when they feel sick. And while experts expect this summer wave to stay mild, COVID still poses a risk, especially for the immunocompromised and other medically vulnerable residents.

State of play: Cases are growing or likely growing in 39 states as of July 2, according to the latest CDC data . That includes D.C., where there's a relatively tiny increase in people testing positive.

• Hospitalizations and deaths remain low.
• The KP.3 and KP.2 strains, descendants of the highly contagious JN.1 variant and among the so-called FLiRT variants , account for more than half of infections, according to the CDC .

By the numbers: Test positivity in D.C. went up 1.1 percentage points to 5.7% as of the week ending June 29, according to the CDC . More recent results are expected this week.

• DC Health labels the transmission level as "low." About 1% of hospital beds in the city are serving COVID patients.

Wastewater surveillance shows that Maryland has a "high" viral activity level, per the CDC. Virginia has a moderate level of COVID detected in the wastewater, while data for D.C. doesn't exist.

Zoom out: Cases are more markedly increasing in the West. Test positivity was about 15% in California, Arizona, and Nevada as of June 29.

Between the lines: The FLiRT variants don't appear to cause different or more serious symptoms. They're descended from Omicron and have mutations in the spike protein that make them more easily transmitted.

• Experts continue to expect that old at-home COVID tests will work, and that available vaccines will continue to protect against serious illness.