COVID-19 activity is increasing in many areas of the United States, although the overall respiratory virus level across the country is considered “very low,” according to federal officials.
An update released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Aug. 22 states that COVID-19 emergency department visits are still “low” but are “increasing among all ages and highest in young children.”
“COVID-19 model-based epidemic trends … indicate that COVID-19 infections are growing or likely growing in most states,” the agency stated.
The CDC reported through its data tracking tool that for the week that ended on Aug. 16, test positivity was 9.9 percent compared with 8.5 percent during the previous week. Emergency department visits were up to 1.2 percent from 1 percent during the same time period, the tool shows.
The CDC stated that, because of a “technical issue,” the agency does not have updated figures for the COVID-19 wastewater levels across the United States. According to the last available data, between Aug. 3 and Aug. 9, COVID-19 levels were very high in Hawaii, Alaska, Texas, Utah, and Nevada and high in California, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and Connecticut.
Aside from COVID-19, seasonal influenza activity is considered low and respiratory syncytial virus activity is considered very low by the CDC, according to the Aug. 22 update. For respiratory syncytial virus and influenza, there were no changes in the levels.
Rates of respiratory infections caused by the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae, sometimes referred to as “walking pneumonia,” remain elevated in some parts of the United States, the CDC stated. According to the agency, over the past several weeks, emergency visit and positive test data show relatively higher infection rates than usual.
Cases of pertussis, commonly called whooping cough, are also lower than the peak that was seen in November 2024, according to the CDC. However, levels of the bacterial respiratory infection are elevated so far in 2025 compared with the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, it noted.
“There’s no distinct seasonal pattern to whooping cough, but past trends suggest that cases may increase in summer and fall,” the CDC stated before warning that the disease poses the greatest risk to infants younger than 1.
Earlier in 2025, the World Health Organization listed two variants as being “under monitoring.” They were driving cases in the United States, according to a variant tracking page operated by the CDC. That page has not been updated since late June because of a change in how variants are reported, the CDC stated.
The CDC update was made several weeks after the Department of Health and Human Services recommended that healthy children and pregnant women be removed from the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule for COVID-19. Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics released new COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, which diverge from the new CDC immunization schedule for children.
After the American Academy of Pediatrics issued its recommendations, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called on the group to “disclose conflicts of interest, including its corporate entanglements and those of its journal.”