COVID Cases Update: Map Reveals 5 States With Highest Positive Tests

Texas and its surrounding states continue to have the highest rates of COVID-19 test positivity, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Some 13.5 percent of COVID tests across the country were positive in the week ending September 2, down slightly from the previous week.

Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana and Arkansas continue to be the only states where test positivity is above 20 percent, according to the data. All five states had 20.3 percent of tests come back positive that week. Republican governors in Texas and Oklahoma are among those who have banned mask mandates in their states.

Those states were followed by Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, which all had 14.5 percent test positivity.

In a sign that the coronavirus isn't going anywhere soon, even the states at the other end of the spectrum had at least 11.6 percent test positivity. Those states include Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Newsweek reached out to the CDC via email for comment.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have been steadily increasing in recent months but are still considered low in about 93 percent of the country, according to the CDC.

Updated COVID-19 shots are expected to be rolled out later this month.

CDC Chief Dr. Mandy Cohen says the updated vaccination will help put the country in a solid position to avoid another "tripledemic" like last year when hospitals were overwhelmed with an early flu season, an onslaught of cases of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, and another winter coronavirus surge.

"There will be a lot of virus this winter," Cohen told the Associated Press. "That's why we want to get ahead of it."

The updated COVID shots were created to target XBB.1.5, the dominant coronavirus subvariant for most of 2023. However, fears are rising that the highly mutated BA.2.86 subvariant will drive up infections as the colder months approach.

Recent lab testing from vaccine manufacturers and other research groups suggests the updated shots will offer crossover protection. Moderna and Pfizer said last week that their updated COVID-19 vaccines generated strong responses in testing against the BA.2.86 subvariant.

The CDC said on Friday that the current increases in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations "are not being driven by BA.2.86 and instead are being caused by other predominantly circulating viruses."

The agency said the variant has been identified in nine U.S. states as of Friday, including people in Colorado, Delaware, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington. The CDC said the variant was also identified in New York and Ohio wastewater samples.