COVID-19 surges with emergency room visits and deaths this summer

In recent weeks, more people are going to emergency rooms and dying from COVID-19, according to federal health data.

The information agencies collect, called surveillance data, that tracks COVID-19 cases and spread has become limited since the pandemic began. However, COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are indicators of the disease’s spread. Emergency room admissions and deaths have increased, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Overview of the increase: Why are people suddenly getting COVID-19 this summer?

COVID-19, with its endless list of mutating subvariants, appears to have more predictable seasons, with big increases in cases in the winter months and smaller increases in the summer. Experts have previously told USA TODAY that cases appear to be increasing this summer. However, Americans do not face the same risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 as they did at the start of the pandemic, thanks in part to vaccines and previous infections that protect people.

That’s not to say people shouldn’t be concerned. In 2023, more than 75,000 people died from COVID-19. Nearly a million people ended up in U.S. hospitals last year.

CDC data released Monday showed a 23% increase in emergency room visits in the past. The data was taken from the week of June 22, the latest data available, which showed that the weekly percentage of emergency room visits diagnosed with COVID-19 was 0.9%. It showed a substantial increase in the number of people diagnosed in Hawaii and, to a lesser extent, in Arizona, New Mexico, Florida and Washington. The percentage of COVID-19 diagnoses has increased since early May, according to CDC data.

There has been no noticeable change in COVID-19 hospitalizations. But deaths have jumped 14% in the past week. While this seems alarming, it is important to note that this is a percentage increase from recent numbers. It does not mean that the total number of deaths is as high as it was at the beginning of the pandemic.

CDC: Updated COVID-19 and flu vaccines recommended for fall

Preliminary data show several hundred deaths, compared to an average of more than 2,000 deaths each week in late December and January. Before that, when the Omicron variant dominated cases in 2021, weekly averages exceeded 20,000 deaths that winter.

Health officials stressed at a recent panel approving updated COVID-19 vaccines this fall that older adults remain at increased risk of serious outcomes from COVID-19. The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older get the updated COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available later this year.