Utah gets a pre-holiday COVID warning
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Utah has "very high" levels of COVID-19 as we head into the holiday travel season, Alex Fitzpatrick and Alice Feng report from the latest CDC wastewater data.
Why it matters: Given how much traveling people will be doing this month, it's likely that the state's COVID situation will worsen over the coming weeks.
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.)
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.
The latest: Utah's wastewater testing map showed elevated virus levels at sites throughout the state as of Monday.