Arkansas' COVID-19 concentrations are high
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Arkansas has high levels of COVID-19 as we head into the holiday travel season, Alex Fitzpatrick and Alice Feng report from the latest CDC data.
Why it matters: While many Americans by this point have some combination of natural and vaccine-induced immunity, COVID can still make people plenty sick and force them to miss school, work — if they can — and holiday activities.
- It also remains a potentially fatal threat for vulnerable groups like the elderly and immunocompromised.
The big picture: As of early December, 22 states had "very high" COVID-19 wastewater levels as defined by the CDC, which compares current rates to baseline measurements at sites nationwide. (Read more about the agency's methodology here.)
- Many of the states with "very high" levels are concentrated in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.
Meanwhile, the CDC recently sounded the alarm on low levels of COVID-19, flu and RSV vaccinations so far this winter.
Of note: Wastewater analysis is one of the best methods for tracking the spread of COVID-19 these days, given how few people are testing and how few of those results are reported to local or state health officials.
Yes, but: It's a relatively new method of tracking contagions that's still being fleshed out.
- One important caveat here: While some states have dozens of wastewater reporting sites, some only have a handful, one or none at all.
- States like Arkansas with just one wastewater analysis site are categorized according to the findings at that site, even if that data may not accurately reflect local spread across the entire state.
The bottom line: There's enough data here to pretty clearly show a worsening COVID-19 situation nationally — especially when considered alongside other metrics, like hospitalizations, which are rising in many of the places with "very high" wastewater rates.