By admin 
Summer may be winding down, but COVID-19 cases are on the uptick in California and throughout the country.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that COVID-19 is on the rise in all 50 states, though overall levels remain low. The national positive test rate for the virus is 3.72% as of Aug. 8, up from 0.86% in early June.
Unlike traditional respiratory illnesses which tend to spike once a year in the colder months, COVID-19 has tended to spike in both summer and winter in recent years. Last August, the national positive test rate rose to over 12%. In comparison, this past winter’s spike saw a high positive test rate of 5.4% in late January, according to the CDC.
COVID-related emergency department visits also rose last summer, accounting for 1.7% of visits nationwide and 2% of visits in California.
“There’s been a significant increase in COVID-19 detection via wastewater surveillance in the past week from low to moderate now,” said Casey Camacho, a spokesperson for Sacramento County Public Health, in a statement. “Though the percent of emergency department visits due to COVID-19 remain low (at less than 1%), we do expect to see a surge of cases in the next few weeks in Sacramento County.”
The COVID-19 rate for patients being tested at urgent care clinics is significantly higher than the CDC rates, according to Experity, a medical software company that services over 3,000 urgent care facilities across the country and 340 in California. As of Aug. 18, Experity said the national average positive rate at urgent cares over the last 7 days was 10.6%. California’s positive test rate is 15.8%.
“This year, we’re seeing a pattern where there are peaks or spikes happening in particular regions around the country. We’re seeing that in the southeast, and then also kind of along the west coast, with California being one of the peaks in terms of the COVID rates overall,” said Dr. Andrea Giamalva, Experity’s chief medical officer. “We don’t necessarily see COVID peak at the same time as other respiratory illnesses, and so it almost carves out its own time and space.”
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Giamalva said that Experity’s higher rates reflect the fact that those tested are already presenting symptoms. Interpreting the data in another way, she said that those with symptoms of a respiratory illness in California have an approximately 16% chance of having COVID-19.
“It’s not that (the CDC) data is wrong. It’s just simply that they’re pulling from a different cohort of patients. A lot of the CDC data may be coming from wastewater analysis, or it might be coming from situations where symptomatic and asymptomatic patients are tested,” Giamalva said. “Versus in our scenario, it’s that symptomatic approach where patients are presenting with symptoms.”
The most dominant strain of COVID-19, according to the latest CDC data from June, is XFG.1.1. The Omicron subvariant first emerged in 2025 and accounted for 22-39% of cases in July.
It is not clear why COVID-19 tends to have a summer peak. The CDC said that regions which did not experience substantial COVID-19 activity during the most recent winter months are projected to have greater levels of COVID cases and hospitalizations this summer. A swath of Western states — including California, Nevada and Arizona — are among those projected to have elevated COVID transmission rates.
Comacho encouraged individuals who had been putting it off to get vaccinated or get their vaccine booster before the potential summer wave hits. He also said that those at higher risks for serious illness, including those who are immunocompromised, should consider masking in indoor public spaces.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has directed manufacturers of the 2026-2027 COVID-19 vaccine, which should roll out sometime this fall, to target the XFG (Stratus) strain of the respiratory virus. The vaccine for the latest variant is expected to be released in September.
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