TAMPA, Fla. — COVID-19 cases are rising.
“Don’t sleep on COVID right now,” said Dr. Jill Roberts with the USF College of Public Health.
The CDC reports that there’s an increase in COVID-19 test positivity after months of decline.
“I see a couple of metrics are trending up. And so case positivity is going up again. Emergency department visits are going up again,” said Roberts.
A new figure from the CDC shows emergency room visits for COVID-19 are the highest they’ve been since this winter.
“In the last month at Centra Care, we’ve seen a three-fold increase in the number of patients testing positive for COVID,” said Dr. Timothy Hendrix, medical director for AdventHealth Centra Care Urgent Care.
According to the latest projections, FLiRT variants KP.2 and KP.3 make up about 61.3% of new COVID-19 cases.
The newest mutation, LB.1, is starting to pick up steam across the United States—now accounting for about 14.9% of new cases.
In Florida, the CDC is tracking "very high" levels of COVID-19 virus in the wastewater.
“Now we’re seeing more people coming in with those COVID symptoms, which are very similar to flu-like fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue,” said Hendrix.
Doctors believe there are several reasons behind the rise, including new variants and Fourth of July holiday celebrations.
“The pattern that we usually see is if there’s a new variant out there and a holiday, we will see an increase in cases,” said Hendrix.
“The other thing I think could potentially impact this is heat warnings. Heat warnings will send people indoors, and it will concentrate more people indoors,” said Roberts.
As summer travel is expected to break records, health officials predict more cases are likely.
“As schools are getting out up north and in the Midwest and out west and we’re getting tourism coming to Florida, we do anticipate that we will likely see a rise in our COVID numbers,” said Dr. Lisa Cronin, pediatrician at Children’s Medical Center.
Doctors are encouraging people to take a COVID-19 test if they’re feeling sick and stay home to limit spread.
If you have any home tests lying around from over the years, experts said they will most likely still work.
“The FDA has often extended those expiration dates on those home tests,” said Hendrix.
“If your tests are expired, they probably still work, but pay attention to that control line. If your control line is coming up positive, you’re probably okay,” said Roberts.