Covid cases rising in US as officials plan to restrict booster vaccines

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Risks of a wave are compounded by new vaccine restrictions from the Trump administration

Melody Schreiber
Tue 5 Aug 2025 08.00 EDT

Covid is on the rise again in the US, as children begin returning to school and as officials plan to restrict booster shots. While cases are increasing less quickly than at the start of other surges, it is too soon to tell how big the current late-summer wave could get – and with highly varied immune responses from prior infections and vaccinations, it is difficult to know how severe illness could be, experts said. The risks of a wave are compounded by new vaccine restrictions from the Trump administration.

“If you’re vaccinated against Covid-19, you’re less likely to get infected,” said Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins University. “But we haven’t gotten a lot of people vaccinated for the past few years, and with the current recommendations changing, it’s even less likely.” Future waves could become more severe as vaccination lags and immunity drops, Pekosz said.

Several key measurements – including wastewater data, test positivity and emergency room visits – indicate a new rise in infections. In the past, Covid has surged about twice a year, usually in the summer and the winter. But the pattern can change, as it does with other respiratory viruses – with late or early starts to the season and curveballs like double peaks. “Each year has been different, so in some ways, this is more of the same,” said Sam Scarpino, a professor of health sciences at Northeastern University.

Cases are increasing or likely increasing in 26 US states, especially in the south and midwest, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “In the snapshot that we’re seeing right now, increases are happening at a relatively low rate, and that would indicate that we probably aren’t going to peak at a very high level. But again, this is early in this summer surge, so we really have to keep monitoring the data and paying attention to what it’s telling us,” Pekosz said. The variants currently spreading around the globe have known immune-evasion properties, Scarpino said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/05/us-covid-cases-rising