People’s CDC COVID-19 Weather Report

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The Weather

For the past few years, we’ve routinely used CDC national wastewater levels to report “The Weather.” Our website uses CDC data to generate the national wastewater levels map. We have sometimes reported WastewaterSCAN (WWS) data or encouraged folks to use the WWS dashboard to look for local data if the CDC data doesn’t include anything local to them. Usually, WWS and CDC national assessments are more or less in alignment. This week, though, readers might have noticed a temporary (major) discrepancy: for at least one day, WWS designated COVID wastewater a category of “High” while CDC was still showing the level as “very low.” Since then, the values have come into more of an agreement: WWS now calls the category “medium” and CDC calling the level “low.” 

We took a deep dive to see what was going on. Unlike CDC’s updates which are every other week, WWS updates more continuously. Sometimes, blips and bumps in the data turn out to be artifacts, and they eventually get corrected or settle out. This seems to have been the case this week: one site in Idaho was temporarily showing very high levels, pulling the average up. Now, this artifactually high output from one site seems to have disappeared. We will continue to keep an eye on both sites for any sign of a summer surge. For now, neither wastewater surveillance system seems to be detecting one. 

The CDC says that current national levels are “Low,” with the South having the highest levels. As mentioned above, remember that even if your state’s overall levels look low, certain areas within it may have higher levels. You can check your state here to see more detailed local data. 

A map of the United States displaying COVID Wastewater Viral Activity levels from the dates June 29, 2025 - July 05, 2025 using CDC data last updated on July 10, 2025. The map is in warm tones with deeper tones indicating higher viral activity levels and grey areas indicating that no data had been reported. High levels are in dark tones for Alaska, Hawaii, Florida, and Alabama. California, Colorado, Guam, Louisiana, Nevada, and South Carolina have moderate levels of viral activity. There is no data for North Dakota and the US Virgin Islands. Ten states and Guam have limited data (less than 5% of the population is represented in the data). Text above the map reads: “CDC data, COVID Wastewater Map” At the bottom, the text reads “People’s CDC. Source: CDC.”

Graphic source: CDC

Wastewater Trends

CDC and WastewaterSCAN are generally noting the same general, slight upward trend.

A line graph’s title reads “WastewaterSCAN 12 month National COVID Wastewater Trend.” The Y axis is COVID concentration levels from 0 to over 600. The X axis is months from Fall of 2024 through July 2025. The line graph peaks in 2024 summer months to levels above 600, gradually dropping to Fall of 2024 levels below 200, with an upward trend to 400 levels in winter 2024/2025. There is a slow downward trend again to levels of around 100 in the Spring of 2025. Levels seem to slightly but steadily trend upward to the last data point in July. Text at the bottom reads “People’s CDC. Source: WaterwatersSCAN."Graphic Source: WastewaterSCAN (Click on “view chart details”)

 

A line graph’s title reads “CDC: 12 month national COVID wastewater trends From data last updated July 10, 2025.” Wastewater Viral Activity Levels are indicated on the left-hand vertical axis, going from “Very Low” to “Very High”, and “Week Ending” across the horizontal axis, with date labels ranging from August 3, 2024 to July 5, 2025. A key at the bottom indicates line colors. National is a black line, Midwest is orange, South is purple, Northeast is light blue, and West is green. Nationally the line graph appears to be stable, with only minimal trend upward nationally and in the West and Midwest regions. Data from the most recent two weeks may be incomplete due to delays in data reporting. These data sets are subject to change and are indicated by the gray shading. Text at the bottom reads “People’s CDC. Source: CDC.”Graphic source: CDC

We also want to highlight a new data source on the block: lung.fish is a new collection of dashboards put together by a consortium of academic research laboratories and public health organizations. They have been collecting pathogen genomic information and sharing it transparently in hopes that it will allow scientists to identify pathogen outbreaks. Though there are not a ton of sites reporting to them just yet, they do have information about a whole lot of pathogens.

As always, we encourage you to find your most local data in order to determine best what is happening near you. And, we still encourage everyone to mask up, especially indoors! 

Emergency Room Use

The CDC is still posting data about Emergency Room visits. More specifically, they report the proportion of ED visits in which COVID is diagnosed. We’ve seen a gradual increase in this number since about mid-May, but no signal of a summer surge just yet.

A line graph’s title reads “Percentage of ED visits diagnosed as COVID-19 by week from data updated on July 10, 2025. The Y axis represents weekly percent (the number of ED visits for COVID for every 100 of all ED visits) from 0 to 1.4 percent. The X axis represents weeks from November 2, 2024 to July 5, 2025. The peak is between December and January of 2025 with COVID representing over 1.3 percent of ED visits. There is a gradual trend downward until May of this year, dipping to less than 0.4 percent and then gradually rising to over 0.4 percent of ED visits for COVID as of July. Text above the graph reads “Emergency Department Visits”. Text at the bottom reads “People’s CDC. Source: CDC.”

Graphic source: CDC

Wins

States’ public health departments are vowing to convene their own vaccine advisory committees in light of RFK’s corruption of ACIP.  Read, for example, the announcement from Dr. Sameer Vohra, the Director of Illinois Department of Health. Massachusetts, meanwhile, is working to disentangle its vaccine policies from federal recommendations in order to maintain access for its residents. 

Testing

The NYC Department of health has announced that it plans to close its last COVID/Flu/RSV testing center on July 18. But activists including ACT UP and local mask bloc organizers are refusing to stay silent, demanding that the NYC DOH not only keep this site open, but also expand testing to each of the city’s free clinics. Last week on Wednesday, they took their protest to the lobby of the Health Department offices. Expanding and strengthening publicly provided care is an essential strategy for opposing federal cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. We celebrate these activists’ efforts, recognizing that same-day PCRs are important tools in preventing asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic COVID spread, in accessing Long COVID care or treatment, and in removing barriers to Paxolovid treatment. 

If you want to join the resistance to this closure, call and write your city council person (especially if its Chi Osse (@cmchiosse) and call and write Lynn Schulman (@lynn4nyc) the head of the city council’s committee on health to tell them HANDS OFF OUR FREE CLINICS.

Other Public Health Threats and Organized Community Resistance

Progressive Labor Party members and friends in Maryland launched a campaign against DC’s transit authority for recruiting Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)/ICE agents. The DC Metro system posted signs on its buses and trains calling for people to join the CBP.

Photograph of a US Customs and Border protection recruitment flier reading “Protect our Nation, go Beyond.” Beneath that, image of four individuals in uniforms. At the bottom, a QR code and the words “join the mission careers.cbp.gov”

CBP agents patrol US borders to detain and deport immigrants. They abduct people who are fleeing their homes in Haiti, Africa, and Latin America where extreme poverty and violence, generated by US imperialism, have driven them out. The Trump Administration is rounding up and intimidating professors, students, healthcare workers, and pro-Palestinian advocates. Detentions and deportations prevent families from working, from seeking healthcare, and from accessing education. They create intense, health-impacting stress.

So, folks in Maryland collected postcards and petition signatures demanding an end to these recruitment images on public transit. They visited bus barns to talk with bus operators. The Metro union also expressed outrage and support for the protest efforts. Now, organizers are continuing their efforts and joining with the Metro union to demand free fares.

Take Action

You, too, can join anti-ICE/CBP efforts. Join Rapid Response teams in your community. Get trained to confront ICE when they come for your neighbors. Meanwhile, join mutual aid efforts to support immigrant families with food and medical care. Healthcare workers can organize clinics and hospitals to protect their patients. Teachers can shelter their students from raids. 

Notes: 1) The numbers in this report were current as of 7/11/2025. 2) Check out the links throughout & see our website for more at https://peoplescdc.org. 3) Subscribe to our newsletter: People’s CDC | Substack.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The People’s CDC is a coalition of public health practitioners, scientists, healthcare workers, educators, advocates and people from all walks of life working to reduce the harmful impacts of COVID-19.

We provide guidance and policy recommendations to governments and the public on COVID-19, disseminating evidence-based updates that are grounded in equity, public health principles, and the latest scientific literature.

Working alongside community organizations, we are building collective power and centering equity as we work together to end the pandemic. The People’s CDC is volunteer-run and independent of partisan political and corporate interests and includes anonymous local health department and other government employees. The People’s CDC is completely volunteer run with infrastructure support being provided by the People’s Science Network.

Though the People’s CDC was supported initially through a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, that grant has long expired. We no longer pursue or accept grant funding. We are now entirely funded by people who donate to us. Most of these donations make their way to us through our Substack platform (which anyone can access for free!) or through purchases of People’s CDC swag. Our website now has a donate link for anonymous donations.

The content that we put out is entirely created by volunteers who receive no funding for their work. We pay one person for their labor–a digital organizer. They help us update and maintain our website, make sure we all know what meetings are happening and when, post our content on social media, and monitor our email. They also act as the point person between our organization and our fiscal sponsor, People’s Science Network.

We also pay for a People’s CDC T-shirt for any volunteer who wants one.

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