Coronavirus infections in the United States are up in December, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The week that ended Saturday, December 7, saw test positivity rates rise to 5.4 percent; higher than the last week of November (4 percent) and the week before (4.5 percent).

Rates of COVID-19 positivity—the percentage of people taking COVID-19 tests who have a positive result—were higher in states in the middle of the U.S. compared with states nearer the East or West coasts.

Texas and its bordering states, known as region 6, had the highest rates in the country at 6.4 percent, closely followed by region 5 (Minnesota to Ohio) at 6.1 percent.

Regions 7 (Nebraska to Missouri) and 8 (Montana to Colorado) had rates of 6 and 5.9 percent respectively.

In contrast, the area with the lowest rates of COVID positivity was in the Southeast, region 4 (Florida to Kentucky), with only 2.2 percent of COVID tests coming back positive.

The percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as COVID has remained largely unchanged in recent weeks, at 0.6 percent—with the highest rates located in the Southwest: New Mexico at 1.8 percent and Arizona at 1.5 percent.

Deaths from COVID are highest in North Carolina, with 1.4 percent of deaths attributed to the virus.

California, Michigan, New York and Florida also have higher than average rates of COVID-related deaths, ranging from 1.2 percent in California to 0.6 percent in Florida.

These rates are low compared to the same month last year, according to data from the CDC’s hospitalization surveillance network, called COVID-NET.

Preliminary data from COVID-NET indicates that 1.4 people per 100,000 were hospitalized with COVID in the U.S. during the week ending December 7.

That is much less than the 6.1 per 100,000 people that were hospitalized with COVID during the same week in 2023.

The same data shows that since October 2024, 19.1 per 100,000 people have cumulatively been hospitalized with COVID—compared to 48 per 100,000 during the same period in 2023.

The CDC recommends that everyone aged 6 months and older should get a COVID-19 vaccine this season, meaning from October 2024 to September 2025.

This is because vaccine protection decreases over time and because the vaccines are updated to give people the best protection against new strains.

The newest COVID-19 strain is called XEC, a subvariant of Omicron that is believed to be more transmissible, but milder than previous strains.

The CDC lists current likely symptoms of COVID-19 as:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• New loss of taste or smell
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

Many of these symptoms overlap with other illnesses, such as flu, which is why experts advise taking a test to find out what the illness is. These can be mailed to people’s homes for free.

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