WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-19 data tracker, the test positivity rate for the week ending August 10 was 18.1 percent, the highest recorded in the country since January 2022.
'KP.3.1.1, of the Omicron family, is now the predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant circulating in the United States, having overtaken its parent linage KP.3 and previous KP.2 variants,' the CDC said.
The new variant is accountable for 31 to 43 percent of COVID-19 clinical specimens for the two-week period ending August 17, according to the CDC data.
The highest rates of infection were observed in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, followed by Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, which reported the second highest percentage of positive test results.
The lowest infection rates were found in Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada, with 13.2 percent of tests returning positive.
'The rise in prevalence of KP.3.1.1 comes as markers of COVID-19 activity, including test positivity, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations, remain elevated, particularly among adults ages 65 years and older and children younger than 2 years,' the health regulator added.
The CDC urged the public to get vaccinated, and stay up-to-date with vaccinations, emphasizing that vaccinated individuals have lower risk of hospitalization, severe illness and death from COVID-19.
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