Highly mutated COVID variant ‘Pirola’ JN.1 is fueling the pandemic’s second highest U.S. wave—and it’s still growing

With COVID testing at all-time lows, wastewater is now the best and quickest way to gauge the growth of the virus, experts say. Other indicators, like hospitalizations and deaths, only reflect the most severe cases and lag by several weeks. (Credit: Getty Images)

COVID levels have reached their second-highest level of the pandemic in the U.S., according to federal wastewater data released Friday—this as related ER visits, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to rise.

National COVID wastewater levels sat at 12.85—the number of standard deviations above baseline—on Dec. 30, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Until then, the pandemic’s second-highest peak had occurred on Dec. 31, 2022, during the XBB.1.5 “Kraken” surge, when levels sat at 10.16.