{"id":6761,"date":"2023-08-23T16:50:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T16:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/2023\/08\/23\/covid-infections-have-doubled-in-us-in-past-month-amid-rise-of-two-mutant-variants\/"},"modified":"2023-08-23T16:50:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T16:50:39","slug":"covid-infections-have-doubled-in-us-in-past-month-amid-rise-of-two-mutant-variants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/covid-infections-have-doubled-in-us-in-past-month-amid-rise-of-two-mutant-variants\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid Infections have DOUBLED in US in past month amid rise of two mutant variants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Covid infections in the US have nearly doubled in the past month amid the rise of two highly-mutated variants, official data suggests.<\/p>\n
The test positivity rate in the US – the share of swabs that come back positive – has soared from one in 15\u00a0in the week ending July 15 to one in eight by\u00a0August 12, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC<\/a>) data.<\/p>\n It means test positivity is at its highest level in more than a year. In several states, including Texas<\/a>, Arkansas<\/a> and Louisiana<\/a>, one in six Covid swabs came back positive in the most recent week.<\/p>\n Because regular Americans are no longer testing en masse like they were at earlier points in the pandemic – just 40,000 swabs are being reported to the CDC each week –\u00a0it has become more difficult to spot new outbreaks early.\u00a0<\/p>\n But all metrics indicate infections are rising rapidly. Along with the rise in positivity, hospitalization rates for Covid patients have also risen for five weeks in a row – though\u00a0they still remain near-historic lows.<\/p>\n