COVID Is Surging Right Now—This Is the #1 Symptom to Look Out For, According to Infectious Disease Experts

 COVID Is Surging Right Now—This Is the #1 Symptom to Look Out For, According to Infectious Disease Experts

COVID Is Surging Right Now—This Is the #1 Symptom to Look Out For, According to Infectious Disease Experts, COVID-19 is still raging—which any high-risk or immunocompromised person could've told you long ago—and right now, there's a huge surge of infections across the U.S.

Infectious disease experts say it's relatively unusual to see surges in the summer months, but due to the heat wave (or dome, depending on where you live), more people are congregating indoors to savor air conditioning and seek respite from soaring temperatures and humidity.

There are currently 39 states with growing or likely growing surges of COVID-19, and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) makes it look unlikely to see a decline anytime soon.

"There is concern in the public health community that a summer spike in COVID-19 cases may occur as a result of the new FLiRT variants combined with less vaccine uptake and declining immunity in the community, as well as increased travel and indoor gatherings during the summer," medical epidemiologist and board-certified pathologist Dr. David A. Schwartz, MD, MS Hyg, FCAP, tells Parade. "Laboratory research suggests that the current vaccines and immunity acquired from previous infection may not be effective in producing high levels of protection, especially among certain persons with risk factors such as those persons with underlying conditions, the immunocompromised and the elderly."

Dr. Ashley L. Drews, MD, an epidemiologist at Houston Methodist, points out, "We have seen COVID surges every summer since the onset of the pandemic, but this one seems to be starting earlier in the summer than the previous summer COVID surges. We are likely seeing a surge right now as the most widely circulating variants, the FLiRT variants, have mutated and further evaded the immune system coupled with waning immunity in general. There was low uptake from the updated COVID vaccine in the fall of 2023."

What's more, while hospitalizations are low compared to the peak of the pandemic in 2020, they're still going up compared to where they were in the spring.

"Emergency room visits for COVID-19 have increased over 14% from the week before," Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare infectious disease physician Dr. Shirin Mazumder, MD, says. "COVID-related hospitalizations have also increased by 25% from the previous week.

In fact, those numbers will likely increase even further when people travel for July 4 parties and long weekends—and these numbers don't even take into account long COVID, which can linger for months or more in some patients and be really serious.

Here's what to know about the current COVID-19 surge, what symptoms to look out for, how to stay safe and protect yourself and others.