Summer brings COVID-19 uptick amid renewed travel, socializing. How bad will it get?
Summer has brought an uptick in coronavirus transmission, but experts say it is still too early to tell whether the upswing represents a significant public health concern.
The U.S. recorded a 10% increase in new COVID-19 hospital admissions for the week that ended July 15 compared with the previous seven-day period. Still, hospitalizations remain near a record low for the pandemic.
Hospitalizations are rising fastest in the South, Great Plains and Rocky Mountain states. California, so far, has fared better.
"There's no doubt compared to our nadirs, or the stability that we've enjoyed, that there's a slight increase in test positivity," Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, told The Times in an interview.
"And the question is going to be: How sick do people really get, now that we've had a degree of immunity?" he said.
The extent. Official case counts are now largely unreliable due to the proliferation of at-home testing and reduced data reporting.
