COVID-19: Extreme heat, new variants aid summer surge
WASHINGTON - A summer surge of COVID-19 cases across the country is being aided by the combination of extreme heat and new variants, says an infectious disease expert with Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Amesh Adalja told FOX 5 that we’ve seen sudden seasonal increases in COVID almost every year since the pandemic began and that he’s not surprised President Joe Biden recently tested positive.
READ MORE: Biden tests positive for COVID-19 with mild symptoms, will self isolate
"What it actually is related to are new variants that continue to evolve, like the FLiRT variants, coupled with people trying to seek shelter from the heat by going indoors where we know the virus transmits more readily," Adalja said Thursday. "The whole country is having increased levels of COVID, so it’s not surprising that the President got caught up in that."
A senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, and an adjunct assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Adalja said the immunity to the virus is always going to wane over time. "It is important, if you're a high-risk person like President Biden, to make sure that you're up-to-date on vaccines," he said.
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"For the average risk person, I think most of them can wait until fall, until we get a new version of this virus," he added. "But if any high-risk conditions, you should make sure you are up-to-date with the vaccine."
President Biden tested positive for COVID-19 while traveling Wednesday in Las Vegas and is experiencing "mild symptoms" including "general malaise" from the infection, the White House said.
A young visitor to the U.S. Capitol Building takes a drink in the shade as much of the Northeast braces for a heat wave on June 21, 2024 in Washington, DC. Temperatures are forecasted to soar into the high 90s, with a heat index surpassing 100 degree
Last month, health officials reported upticks in COVID-19-associated emergency room visits and hospitalizations across the U.S., according to the Associated Press. The AP also reports there are still hundreds of COVID-19-associated deaths reported each week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended new shots for all Americans this fall.
According to the CDC’s Wastewater Viral Activity Levels Map, many states across the country are experiencing ‘high’ or ‘very high’ levels of COVID-19. In the Washington, D.C. region, Maryland’s COVID-19 levels are listed as ‘very high’ while Virginia’s levels are listed as ‘high.’ Nationally, the wastewater viral activity level for COVID-19 is currently 'high.'
The D.C. region has experienced some of the most extreme heat to hit the area in recent years this summer. Thursday marked the first day in the last five that temperatures were not expected to reach triple digits.
About 1.2 million U.S. COVID-associated deaths have been reported since early 2020, according to the CDC. The toll was most intense in the winter of 2020-2021, when weekly deaths surpassed 20,000. About 1 out of every 100 Americans ages 75 and older were hospitalized with COVID in the last four years, CDC officials said last month.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.