CDC Samples Find Covid Levels In Wastewater Ticking Up

NBC News: CDC Confirms Uptick In Covid-19 Found In Wastewater
Government scientists confirmed Tuesday that there has been an uptick in the presence of Covid-19 in wastewater samples across the U.S. The potentially troubling trend comes as the country is shedding masks and easing pandemic restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of a virus that in two years has killed nearly a million people in the United States. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged the increase after Bloomberg reported that a third of the agency’s wastewater sample sites showed a rise in Covid cases from March 1 to March 10. (Edwards and Siemaszko, 3/15)

Fox News: Uptick In Covid Virus Cases Detected In Wastewater Sample Sites: CDC
COVID-19 virus detected in wastewater sampling sites is on the rise, according Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. The trend comes as the country recently began lifting mask mandates and easing pandemic restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus. Of the 398 current wastewater sampling sites with active data, 44 sites saw an increase of 1000% or more in detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA wastewater levels and 62 sites saw a 100% to 999% percent increase, during the period of Feb 26, 2022 – Mar 12, 2022, according to the CDC COVID data tracker. (McGorry, 3/16)

The Washington Post: U.S. Experts Bracing For Another Coronavirus Surge 
A surge in coronavirus infections in Western Europe has experts and health authorities on alert for another wave of the pandemic in the United States, even as most of the country has done away with restrictions after a sharp decline in cases. Infectious-disease experts are closely watching the subvariant of omicron known as BA.2, which appears to be more transmissible than the original strain, BA.1, and is fueling the outbreak overseas. (Bernstein and Achenbach, 3/16)

Stat: With Variant On The Rise, Experts Warn U.S. Could Face A Covid Resurgence
On the surface, U.S. Covid-19 metrics continue to show improvement, with cases, hospitalizations, and deaths down dramatically from their peaks just two months ago. But some experts are growing increasingly nervous that the positive trends may be slowing down or even headed for reversal. The country needs to prepare for another spike in cases, they’re warning, even if it turns out to be a minor one. Europe has seen a surge of cases in recent weeks, and the situation there has typically foreshadowed that in the United States. Moreover, some U.S. wastewater surveillance sites are picking up increased viral levels. Individual testing is down, and is increasingly done at home, so it’s harder to see the full landscape. (Joseph, 3/17)

Also —

CNN: This Key Indicator May Determine How Bad A BA.2 Wave Could Be 
With a new version of the Omicron coronavirus variant picking up steam in the United States, as many as 28 million seniors remain at risk of becoming severely ill from Covid-19, either because they are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, or because it has been more than five months since their second or third dose of a vaccine, according to a CNN analysis of federal data. As America casts a wary eye on rising cases caused by the BA.2 subvariant in Europe, the immune status of adults over the age of 65 will be a key indicator of how future variants will affect the US because the risk of severe outcomes rises dramatically with age. (Goodman and McPhillips, 3/16)

The Atlantic: Our Antibodies Can Tell Us About Future COVID Surges
The hunt for the next big, bad coronavirus variant is on. Scientists around the world are sampling wastewater and amassing nose swabs from the sick; they’re scouring the microbe’s genetic code for alarming aberrations. The world of outbreak surveillance “is all virus,” says Danny Douek, an immunologist at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases. We’re laser-focused on getting eyes on a variant that would be well-equipped to wallop us, then alerting the globe. But that, Douek told me, is just one half of the infectious playing field where offense and defense meet. (Wu, 3/16)

The Washington Post: Hospitalizations Of Young Children Increased Fivefold During Omicron Surge, But Few Died, Says CDC Report
Young children in the United States were hospitalized at much higher rates this winter as omicron became the dominant variant than they were during the delta surge, according to a new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the peak of the omicron wave, infants and other children under 5 were hospitalized at about five times the rate documented during the delta wave, although few deaths were reported, the study said. For infants under six months, hospitalizations were about six times higher during the omicron surge. (Shepherd, 3/16)

And the Biden administration issues more warnings over the lack of covid funding —

Politico: White House Warns Free Covid Treatments Are At Risk As Subsidies Run Out 
The Biden administration is debating how to wind down the federal subsidies that guarantee free treatments for coronavirus patients, as it prepares for a scenario where Congress fails to authorize new funding for the pandemic response. The move would bring a halt to government coverage for certain Covid-19 therapeutics, shifting them onto the private market and potentially forcing some Americans to pay out of pocket for pricey treatments like monoclonal antibody drugs that can cost as much as $2,000 per dose. (Cancryn, 3/16)