Texas Now Leads The Nation In COVID Wastewater Activity

I'm sorry to you nonbelievers, but COVID is real, and it's not a joke.

COVID Is Surging Again, And Texas Is Getting Hit Hard

Anyway, COVID is making another late-summer run, and Texas isn't doing particularly well.

According to the latest CDC wastewater numbers reported by USA Today, Texas is currently the only state in the country listed as having "very high" COVID wastewater activity. Mississippi is rated "high," while several other states are sitting at moderate levels. The CDC also estimates COVID infections are currently growing or likely growing in 48 states.

Now, whether you want to reduce COVID to "a bad cold" or compare it to the flu doesn't really matter to me. I don't want a bad cold either. I certainly don't want the flu.

And I will say COVID hits different.

My first bout with COVID left me feeling like I'd been hit by a ton of bricks, much like the flu, but there was also this weird scrambled, slightly disconnected feeling that was completely new to me.

It wasn't just another version of feeling bad. It was like adding an entirely new kind of feeling bad to my collection.

The current numbers come largely from wastewater surveillance. Basically, health officials test sewage for traces of the virus, which can give them an idea of how much COVID is circulating in a community—even when people aren't getting tested or going to the doctor. The CDC says wastewater can sometimes show increased viral activity before it appears in clinical testing.

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So I'm not suggesting everybody freak out or that we return to 2020.

I'm just suggesting that those of you most likely to suffer serious effects from COVID might want to pay a little more attention right now.

Maybe just take a few of the easy precautions again. Wash your hands a little more often, give obviously sick people some space, don't share drinks, and if you're the one who's sick, stay home when you can. Nobody's saying you have to turn your life upside down—just use a little common sense while the numbers are up.

You don't have to panic.

But pretending COVID doesn't exist isn't much of a strategy either.