COVID-19 cases are increasing nationwide but remain lower than last year’s numbers, according to the most recent federal data, and a variant that emerged earlier this year makes up the vast majority of U.S. cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) variant tracking tool shows that for the period between Aug. 3 and Aug. 30, the XFG variant made up about 78 percent of cases. XFG, which was declared a strain “under monitoring” by the World Health Organization in late June, emerged earlier this year.
A variant that was driving up cases in China, NB.1.8.1, made up another 14 percent of cases, the CDC figures show. It was also dubbed a “variant under monitoring” by the World Health Organization in May amid a resurgence in China at the time.
For the week ending Aug. 23, 11.2 percent of weekly tests were positive for COVID-19, a 3.3 percent increase over the previous two months, according to data provided on Aug. 31 by the CDC.
CDC data released on Aug. 28 also show that hospitalizations were at 1.7 per 100,000 people as of Aug. 9, about double the rate from two years ago.
Although increases have been reported in recent weeks, the number of hospitalizations remains significantly lower than the number in 2024 or 2023, according to the CDC. At about the same time in 2024, there were 4.3 hospitalizations per 100,000 people, and in early August 2023, 3.3 hospitalizations were reported.
Roughly 200 people have died from the virus each week over the past seven or eight weeks, CDC data show. However, those numbers also represent a decline. In August 2024, more than 1,000 people across the United States died each week from COVID-19, according to agency figures.
CDC wastewater data, meanwhile, also show that cases are “moderate” across the United States, with “very high” levels being reported in Nevada, Utah, Hawaii, Texas, Nebraska, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C.
On Aug. 27, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved updated COVID-19 shots but limited their use for many Americans. The FDA also removed one of the two vaccines that were made available for young children.
The new shots from Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax are approved for all seniors. But the FDA narrowed their use for younger adults and children to those with at least one high-risk health condition, such as asthma and obesity.
Additionally, Pfizer’s vaccine will no longer be available for any child under the age of 5, because the FDA said it was revoking the shot’s emergency authorization for that age group. Novavax’s shot is available only for individuals aged 12 or older, and it carries the same risk-based restrictions that are now in place for Moderna and Pfizer.
“The American people demanded science, safety, and common sense. This framework delivers all three,” U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy wrote on social media last week.
He also said that the shots are “available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors.”
Kennedy said on Aug. 27 that in addition to revoking emergency use of Pfizer’s vaccine in young children, the government pulled remaining authorizations for all other COVID-19 vaccines and another therapy from the pandemic years, convalescent plasma, which was used to treat hospitalized patients before the first antiviral drugs became available.
Major pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens have started limiting the availability of the vaccines after the FDA’s decision, the companies confirmed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.