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By Martha McHardy
US News Reporter
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A recently released map from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights areas across the country that experienced an increase in COVID-19 cases over Thanksgiving.
For the week ending November 30, four percent of cases nationwide came back positive, down from 4.5 percent the previous week.
California, Arizona, Hawaii and Nevada had the highest percentage of positive tests, with 7.1 percent of tests in the week ending November 30.
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Meanwhile, there was a 6.3 percent positivity rate across Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Colorado.
Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa all had a 5.2 percent positivity rate. In all the other states, less than 5 percent of tests came back positive.
Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana and Arkansas had the lowest positivity rate, with just 1.7 percent of tests coming back positive.
COVID-19 nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), like PCR tests, detect the virus's genetic material to see if someone is infected. The sample is first treated to extract the virus's RNA, which is then turned into DNA using a special enzyme.
Many copies of a specific part of the virus's DNA are then made using a process called amplification, which makes it easier to detect even tiny amounts of the virus. As the copies are made, a special dye lights up if the virus is present, signaling a positive result.
Nationwide, CDC data shows that across the country, 0.6 percent of visits to the ER were associated with COVID-19 during Thanksgiving week, up by 0.1 percent from the week before. Despite having one of the lowest positivity rates, New Mexico had the highest percentage of ER visits that were associated with COVID-19, at 2 percent. Arizona followed with 1.7 percent, while 1.1 percent of ER visits in South Dakota and Colorado were associated with COVID-19. In all the other states, less than 1 percent of ER visits were associated with COVID.
Meanwhile, there were 179 COVID-19 deaths nationwide during the week ending November 30, down from 297 the week before and 453 deaths the week ending November 16.
It comes after "very high" levels of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was detected in the wastewater in Idaho, New Mexico and South Dakota between November 17 and November 23.
The week prior, between November 10 and November 16, only New Mexico's wastewater had this level of the virus present. Currently, only New Mexico has very high levels of SARS-CoV-2 in its wastewater.
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The CDC monitors COVID-19 levels in wastewater as part of its surveillance strategy to track the spread of the virus in communities. Infected individuals shed the virus in their feces, meaning that monitoring wastewater can reveal increases in infection rates earlier than clinical testing or hospitalizations.
"The wastewater viral activity level indicates whether the amount of virus in the wastewater is minimal, low, moderate, high or very high. The wastewater viral activity levels may indicate the risk of infection in an area," the CDC said.
Wastewater data helps public health officials allocate resources and make informed decisions about mask and vaccination policies.
Currently, the wastewater viral activity level for COVID-19 is law, according to the CDC.
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