COVID cases likely rising in half of states, CDC estimates
The agency's modeling suggests that the uptick is in "many" Southeast, Southern and West Coast states, the CDC said in its weekly update.
COVID-19 activity nationwide, however, is still considered "low," based on data from wastewater samples, although that is up from "very low" the week before.
Some of the highest rates of COVID-19 in emergency rooms are in the Pacific Northwest, which saw a steep rise in ER visits during June, and in the Southeast, which has seen rates steadily inch up for weeks. Rates are now the highest they've been since February and March in those regions.
Health officials have been watching for an increase in COVID-19 this summer, as new variants have spread to the U.S. after fueling surges overseas.
A CDC analysis published Thursday concluded that the virus has settled into twice-a-year surges nationwide, typically peaking first in July through September and then a second time later in December through February.
Those surges look to be linked to cycles of genetic changes to a part of the virus that scientists call the S1 region, a key part of the spike protein of the virus that binds to human cells.
"Our analysis revealed biannual COVID-19 peaks in late summer and winter, a pattern that is expected to persist as long as the rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and cyclical S1 diversity continues," the scientists wrote in the CDC analysis.
COVID-19's rise comes as health officials have been probing reports of an unusual uptick in another respiratory virus called parvovirus B19. While many people develop no symptoms from parvovirus B19 infections, some people get sick with signs like fever and muscle pains, followed by a rash.
The CDC warned late last month of a "sustained increase" in transmission of parvovirus B19, and suggested that pregnant women consider masking to curb the risk of severe complications. Some local health departments have also tracked a rise in emergency rooms treating cases of this virus.
"Several of the most recent weeks saw the highest percentage of B19-associated ED visits compared to the same week in all years since 2015," health officials in Chicago warned on Thursday.
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Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Exclusive: Former Astronaut Terry Virts Reveals Plan to Turn Texas Blue
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Colonel Terry Virts has been an Air Force pilot, a NASA astronaut, and even a International Space Station commander. But now he's embarking on what could be considered his most challenging mission to date—becoming the first Democrat in decades to break the Republican stranglehold over Texan politics. It's been more than 30 years since Bob Bullock was re-elected as Texas Lieutenant General in 1994, the last time a Texan Democrat won a statewide election. Since then a succession of Democrats have sought to revive their party's fortunes in the Lone Star State, the second most populous in the Union, but thus far all have been vanquished. In January, Virts became the latest Democrat to challenge the Republican hegemony when he announced he is running for the Senate in 2026, targeting the seat currently occupied by the GOP's John Cornyn. With the Texas Republican Party rocked by infighting, Democrats hope now is their time to achieve the decades-long dream of turning Texas purple and eroding the GOP's wafer-thin Senate majority. NASA Career Virts was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1967. After leaving high school he joined the U.S. Air Force, graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1989 to begin a career as an F-16 pilot. In 2000, Virts was selected to join NASA as part of Astronaut Group 18, going on to pilot the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station in 2010, before returning to the ISS in December 2014 and serving as its commander for part of 2015. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/AP/Canva Virts told Newsweek it was through NASA that his association with Texas began, moving to the state 25 years ago to be near the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He said: "I've lived in Asia, Europe, Middle East. I've lived around the planet. I've lived off the planet. I've lived in Texas longer than anywhere on or off Earth. So this is my home." Texas Floods Virts said that the devastating Texas floods, which killed at least 120 people, including children at a summer camp, and has left another 170 reported missing, were one of the reasons he had decided to run for the Senate. "When I was a kid, I went to church camp," he told Newsweek. "My kids growing up went going to summer church camp when they were Country of Texas is a beautiful place, so I mean, as a parent, I just can't imagine these poor girls... swept away." The Democratic hopeful criticized President Donald Trump's administration for cutting what he called "life-saving science," including weather monitoring and forecasting. "On the day that this tragedy happened, Trump stood there in the White House and signed this bill that cut 40 percent from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including zeroing out research," Virts said. "Trump literally wants to destroy our weather at the same time we have Texas kids being killed by floods and understaffed National Weather Service offices," he added later in the interview. "This administration and the Republican Party is actively cutting life-saving science, and it's horrific. This is one of the reasons why I'm running for Senate right now." Texas Republicans Divided Virts' Senate bid takes place against the backdrop of deep divisions within the Republican Party of Texas. In April, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is widely seen as being on the Republican right, announced a primary challenge against incumbent Republican Senator Cornyn, saying, "It's hard to think of the things that he's done good for Texas or the country." Cornyn's team almost immediately hit back with a statement that said: "Ken Paxton is a fraud." Paxton was impeached by the Republican control Texas House in 2023 on bribery charges, although he was subsequently narrowly acquitted by the state Senate. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Referring to Texas Republican infighting Virts said: "Well as Napoleon said, never interrupt your opponent when he's doing something stupid and certainly the Republicans are doing plenty of that these days." Terry Virts pictured at the Creative Coalition's Tenth Annual Television Humanitarian Awards Gala Luncheon at LadyHawk Restaurant on September 14, 2024 in West Hollywood, California. Terry Virts pictured at the Creative Coalition's Tenth Annual Television Humanitarian Awards Gala Luncheon at LadyHawk Restaurant on September 14, 2024 in West Hollywood, California. Olivia Wong/GETTY During the interview Virts branded Cornyn a "eunuch" and "just the most pathetic person in the Senate." He added: "He just posted a picture of himself reading [Trump's] Art of the Deal. He's trying to grovel and beg Trump for his approval... They hate him. They despise John Cornyn because he doesn't stand for anything. He knows what's right, and he doesn't do it." Turning to Paxton, Virts said: "And then on the other hand, you have Ken he wins the Senate race, he'll instantly become the worst human being in the Senate." He added: "He's suing the federal government to get women's health records. I think most Texans don't want Ken Paxton in their bedroom or in the doctor's office with their wife or with their daughter or with their sister or whatever. So it's quite a race." Cornyn campaign senior adviser, Matt Mackowiak, told Newsweek on Friday that the senator nearly always voted with Trump, who has significant support in the state. "President Trump strongly won Texas by 13 percent in 2024, which shows how deep his support is here," he said. "Senator Cornyn has voted with President Trump 99.2 percent of the time as President and he is proud to have helped advance that agenda which Texans clearly align with." Newsweek contacted Attorney General Paxton for comment on Friday via online inquiry form respectively. Immigration The one issue where Virts sharply criticized his own party's record was illegal immigration, an issue he attributed to Trump's 2024 presidential election victory. Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded an estimated 7.2 million suspected illegal migrant encounters with law enforcement during the Biden administration to January 2024. Referring to voters Virts said: "They voted very clearly they don't like it. Democrats for the last several years have told the country, hey, illegal immigration is not a problem. The country told them, yes, it is." Virtz said some Mexican-American communities he knows near the Mexican border had "voted for Donald Trump en masse." "You would think Trump is calling them rapists and murderers. Trump is saying the most racist, heinous stuff about them, and yet they don't want illegal immigration," he said. However Virtz defended legal immigration, commenting: "If you live in Texas, you're an immigrant. It doesn't matter where you're from." NASA Cuts Virts was sharply critical of Trump's most recent spending package, which cut funding for NASA and various scientific research projects, calling it a "disaster." "The last I read, there's 19 probes that NASA has in the solar system operating functional on Mars, at Jupiter, beyond the solar system. They're costing pennies on the dollar to operate. The expense of these things is the rocket to launch it, to build the satellite. Once you spend all that money, you just pay some scientists and engineers to run the satellite," Virts said. "They're going to cancel all of that stuff, which is insane. They're cancelling important undergraduate and graduate research at universities, tens of thousands. I just saw we had 90,000 research positions is getting cut down to 20,000. That destroys the American science institution for medicine, for space, for weather, for all kinds of science. This administration and the Republican Party hate science. They hate knowledge." Turning to Trump's much publicized falling out with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, his former close ally, Virtz described it as, "It's like going back to King George." Could U.S. Lose Second Space Race? The U.S. is currently locked in a second space race with China, which has vowed to land three astronauts on the Moon by 2030. NASA's Artimus program is currently aiming to land American astronauts in 2027, though the date has already been pushed back. Asked whether China could beat America back to the Moon, Verts warned, "Absolutely. Have you seen America's political system recently? They absolutely might." "If China wins that race to the moon, if they send the next astronauts to the moon, the whole world is going to say, wow, America had a great century," he added. "The 20th century was a great American century. The 21st century is the Chinese century."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Safe and effective': Pediatrician discusses MMR vaccine amid high measles case numbers
MADISON, Ala. (WHNT) — Measles cases in the U.S. have reached a more than 30-year high. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting 1288 cases. These numbers have not been seen since the 1990s, when measles was declared eliminated in the country. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine skepticism has been on the rise, with some parents choosing not to vaccinate their young children. Three measles deaths have been reported this year, and children 19 and younger make up the majority of those who are sick. Dr. William Van Cleave, a pediatrician who practices in Madison, said children usually receive two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The first is given after their first birthday and another when they turn four. 'It's been a vaccine that's really had a long track record of being safe and effective,' Van Cleave said. 'With two doses, it's up to 96% effective at preventing measles.' The vaccine climate has changed in recent years. Parents expressing hesitancy to vaccinate are more commonplace on social media, and their concern that vaccines may cause unintended side effects is finding new support at the federal level. Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. recently fired every member of the U.S. Vaccine Board, filling some of those positions with people who have expressed vaccine skepticism. Van Cleave said the MMR vaccine has been long studied, and data shows it makes a difference. 'I think you can really see this by the latest numbers that came out today from the CDC in that there's 1288 cases so far this year, and 92% of those are unvaccinated,' Van Cleave said. According to the CDC, no cases have been reported in Alabama so far, but neighboring states, like Tennessee and Georgia, have seen several. 'About one in a thousand, one to three in a thousand patients may die from respiratory or neurological complications,' Van Cleave said. Early signs of the measles include fever, cough and a runny nose, but as the disease progresses, Van Cleave describes the measles rash you may begin to see. 'Measles rashes are characteristic in that it starts on the face and then moves down, so that's really important to look out for,' Van Cleave said. Van Cleave said children are often exposed to more illnesses during the school year, so it is a good idea for unvaccinated children to receive the MMR vaccine before they return to class this fall. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Israeli attacks kill 82 amid forced displacement plans, truce talks in Gaza
Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least 82 people since dawn, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, amid ongoing ceasefire talks and criticism of plans to forcibly transfer Palestinians to Rafah. Among those killed on Thursday, 15 people, including nine children and four women, were killed in an Israeli air attack while waiting in line for nutritional supplies for children in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza. At least 30 others were wounded, including 19 children, during the Israeli attack. Catherine Russell, the director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), condemned the attack on aid seekers and said the killing of families trying to access aid was 'unconscionable'. 'This is the cruel reality confronting many in Gaza today after months of insufficient aid being allowed into the territory and parties to the conflict failing to uphold basic responsibilities to protect civilians,' the UNICEF official said. 'The lack of aid means children are facing starvation while the risk of famine grows. The number of malnourished children will continue to rise until life-saving aid and services are resumed at full scale,' she added. Russell called on Israel to ensure 'full compliance with international humanitarian law' and to conduct an investigation into the incident. Separately, Hamas condemned the attack and said it was part of Israel's 'ongoing campaign of genocide in the Strip'. Israel is 'escalating its brutal massacres against innocent civilians in schools, streets, displacement camps, and civilian centres, in a systematic behaviour that amounts to a full-fledged ethnic cleansing crime, perpetrated in full view of the world', the Palestinian group said. Since Israel began its war on Gaza after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks that killed 1,139 people in Israel, at least 57,762 Palestinians have been killed, and 137,656 others have been wounded, according to Gaza's Health Sunday, Israel and Hamas, through mediators including the United States, Qatar and Egypt, have been involved in intense negotiations to come to a ceasefire deal that will pause Israeli attacks on the enclave and return the captives. While Hamas said that it had agreed to release 10 captives in what is expected to be a 60-day ceasefire, the group said on Thursday that issues remained on the flow of aid into Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli troops. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was preparing to leave the US on the last day of a series of meetings in Washington, DC, said Israel continues to pursue a deal for a 60-day pause in the fighting and the release of half the 50 captives remaining in Gaza. Once that deal is in place, Israel is prepared to negotiate a permanent end to the war, Netanyahu said – but only on the condition that Hamas disarms and gives up its governing and military capabilities in Gaza. 'If this can be achieved through negotiations, so much the better,' he said in a video statement. 'If it is not achieved through negotiations in 60 days, we will achieve it in other ways; by using force.' This comes as Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced earlier this week a plan to forcibly transfer Palestinians to a tent city in Rafah, southern Gaza, potentially affecting any ceasefire deal. Tamara Alrifai, a senior communications director at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), told Al Jazeera that the plan would 'de facto create massive concentration camps at the border with Egypt for the Palestinians'. 'We cannot be silent and complicit of such large-scale forced displacement,' she said. Beyond the front lines, European officials struck a new deal with Israel to allow desperately needed food and fuel into Gaza, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Thursday. The agreement could result in 'more crossings open, aid and food trucks entering Gaza, repair of vital infrastructure and protection of aid workers', said Kaja Kallas, the 27-member EU's top diplomat. 'We count on Israel to implement every measure agreed,' she said in a post on social media. Aid groups say Israeli military restrictions and recurring violence have made it difficult to deliver assistance in Gaza even after Israel eased a total blockade in May. Experts have warned that the territory is at risk of famine, 21 months into Israel's war. Kallas said the deal would reactivate aid corridors from Jordan and Egypt and reopen community bakeries and kitchens across Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar acknowledged the deal while attending a conference in Vienna, saying it came 'following our dialogue with the EU'. He said the deal includes 'more trucks, more crossings and more routes for the humanitarian efforts'. Neither Saar nor Kallas said whether the aid would go through the UN-run system or the controversial alternative, US- and Israeli-backed GHF mechanism that has been marred by violence and controversy.
