COVID-19 surges nationwide, with the highest rates in the Southwest

COVID-19 rates in the southwestern United States reached 12.5% — the highest in the nation — according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last week.

- BY NOAH HAGGERTY

PATRICK SISON Associated Press THE COVID positivity rate in the U.S. reached 9% in early August, topping the January postholiday surge.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles County recorded the highest COVID levels in its wastewater since February.

The surge, due to the new highly contagious “Stratus” variant, comes as students across California return to the classroom, now without a CDC recommendation that they receive updated COVID shots. That change in policy, pushed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been criticized by many public health experts.

The COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, mutates often, learning to better transmit itself from person to person and evade immunity created by vaccinations and previous infections.