The variant EG.5 is now the dominant variant in the country, comprising 17.3 percent of U.S. infections<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Physician\u2019s Briefing Staff HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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WEDNESDAY, Aug. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) — New hospitalizations for Americans with severe COVID-19 are climbing once again.<\/p>\n
The number of patients being admitted to hospitals has grown for each of the past four weeks, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data<\/a> show. Southeastern states have been hit the hardest. In the week ending Aug. 5, the United States had 10,320 newly hospitalized patients. That is a 14.3 percent increase, but it is still much lower than last summer’s peak of more than 42,800 in a week.<\/p>\n The Southeastern region that includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee had nearly 4.6 new patients hospitalized with COVID-19 per 100,000 residents. Overall, the country saw just over three new patients per 100,000 residents.<\/p>\n Cases occurring at nursing homes were also high. Severe COVID-19 recently seems to have been striking seniors ages 75 years and older most often. But according to nationwide emergency department data<\/a>, children up to the age of 11 years have also been frequently seen in the emergency department and have now tied with seniors.<\/p>\n In the region that includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, children’s visits to the emergency department are exceeding those of adults, at least for those ages 0 to 11 years, CBS News<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n The variant EG.5 is now the dominant variant in the country, comprising 17.3 percent<\/a> of U.S. infections. Fall’s expected booster shots will target the XBB variant but will also likely provide some protection against EG.5, which is a descendant of the XBB variant.<\/p>\n Still, the World Health Organization has warned that EG.5 could soon outcompete other XBB variants. “EG.5 may cause a rise in case incidence and become dominant in some countries or even globally,” the WHO said in a recent report<\/a> on the variant.<\/p>\n