Blazing temperatures help push up new cases of COVID-19 in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Sizzling temperatures are helping to create a summertime COVID surge in Texas. COVID-19 cases in Texas have increased by a third from two weeks ago. The numbers are up 31% and coronavirus experts don’t think we’ve hit the peak.

“The south is sort of on fire,” said Dr. James McDeavitt, Executive Vice President and Dean of Clinical Affairs at the Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. McDeavitt says the combination of home testing and people just ignoring mild symptoms is making official counts of omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 misleadingly low.

“We’re probably only picking up 20% of the disease that’s actually out there,” said Dr. McDeavitt.

To get a more accurate read on how prevalent the new omicron subvariant is in Texas, Dr. McDeavitt is relying on Houston’s wastewater data.

ALSO | Texas health officials say monkeypox case confirmed in Dallas

“You can’t fake that. Wastewater is wastewater and we are experiencing a major surge now that really is in line with the January omicron surge,” said Dr. McDeavitt.

Triple-digit temperatures that could hit 105 degrees later this week are pushing people to opt for air conditioning over sunshine. It’s why COVID experts think the number of new cases is likely to go up in hot climates like Texas.

“In the Northeast and the Midwest cases are beginning to come down. But in the South and in the West cases are continuing to go up, hospitalizations are going up,” said Dr. Tom Inglesby at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

While new cases have plateaued in parts of the country, Texas and other states in the southern U.S. that does not hold true for Texas.

“I do think that we should be prepared for a summer surge, but somewhat hopeful it won’t have the same impact as it has in the past,” said Dr. Inglesby.

That’s because BA.2.12.1 is not making many people very sick.

“It appears we have enough immunity built up and it’s become a mild enough virus we’re not producing large numbers of sick people,” said Dr. McDeavitt.

Dr. McDeavitt thinks this wave of coronavirus has already infected more than half as many people as January’s omicron and summer hasn’t officially started.

“I don’t think we’ve quite peaked,” said Dr. McDeavitt.