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People across at least 10 states have now been infected by BA.2.86, a highly mutated variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 that authorities have been closely tracking. According to data tallied from the global virus database GISAID, labs have reported finding BA.2.86 in samples from Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Estimates suggest BA.2.86 still remains a small fraction of new COVID-19 cases nationwide. (Tin, 9/18)

Map data updated by the CDC on Monday reveals that the percentage of positive COVID tests dropped slightly overall across the nation for the week ending September 9, falling from 14.4 percent to 14.3 percent. The data is based on the results of 50,579 nucleic acid amplification tests, which are different than the antigen tests typical sold for home testing. Positivity rates were significantly higher than average in two out of 10 regions that the CDC uses to group states. In region six—consisting of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma—the positivity rate was 17.3 percent. In region seven—covering Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska—16.4 percent of tests were coming back positive. (Slisco, 9/18)

Reported numbers of new COVID-19 cases in Florida decreased during the past two weeks after steadily increasing this summer, according to Florida Department of Health data released Friday. (9/18)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today noted that COVID-19 hospitalizations are up 8.7% and deaths up 4.5% in the most recent reporting week, though numbers are still quite low. Roughly 18,900 Americans were hospitalized for the virus in the first week of September, the CDC said, a number not seen since mid-March. Parts of Montana, Texas, Alabama, and Florida have seen significant increases in virus activity, but the CDC notes that fewer jurisdictions are reporting data in regular intervals. (Soucheray, 9/15)

Despite the recent warning of a new variant from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cases of COVID-19 are noticeably weaker than previous waves, a top NYC doctor has said. “Just about everyone who I’ve seen has had really mild symptoms,” Dr. Erick Eiting, who is vice chair of operations for emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Downtown, told NBC News. The outlet also reported that the virus has become so light it is hard to tell apart from allergies or just a common cold.“ The only way that we knew that it was COVID was because we happened to be testing them,” Eiting added, noting that current symptoms mostly include congestion, some sneezing and a mild sore throat. (Mitchell, 9/18)

Some people are speculating that rapid tests have lost their ability to detect some of the newer coronavirus variants, but experts say it’s not the case. (Goodman, 9/18)

Claim: “The CDC has just quietly admitted that over 99% of reported ‘Covid deaths' were faked in order to scare the public into taking the experimental Covid jab,” the post reads. “... According to the CDC's Covid dashboard, just 1.7% of the 324 'Covid deaths' registered in the week ending August 19 had Covid as the primary cause of death." ... False: The post misrepresents the data on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. The source actually said that COVID-19 deaths accounted for just 1.7% of all deaths from all causes in the U.S. that week. It has since been updated to 1.6%. (Trela, 9/18)

Variant-driven COVID-19 cases are increasing and a few U.S. schools and businesses have temporarily reinstated mask mandates to mitigate the virus’ spread. Now, some are sounding the alarm that more severe restrictions are on the horizon. "They’re gonna bring back draconian lockdowns. They’re gonna bring back the tortuous mask mandates in schools," one person said in an Aug. 21 TikTok video. "They’re gonna bring back the injection mandates. They’re gonna close down churches, they’re gonna close down small businesses." (Swann, 9/18)