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As COVID-19 cases continue to tick up in the United States, the Northeast appears to be fueling the increase. Four of the five states with the highest seven-day case rates per 100,000 are in the Northeast. In the 10 states with the highest seven-day rates, seven are Northeastern, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rhode Island currently has the highest seven-day case rate at 172.4 cases per 100,000 people. (Kekatos, 4/11)

Wastewater testing shows a significant spike in COVID-19 in Bangor, with the city reporting among the highest virus concentrations among U.S. samples measured through the same testing method in the past six weeks. COVID-19 levels in the wastewater in Maine’s third-largest city are still lower than they were in January and early February during the winter omicron spike. But the rise is another indication that the virus may again be on the rise in Maine, as the state’s top public health official warned last week. It comes as the more contagious “stealth omicron” variant has become the dominant strain here over the past month. (Piper, 4/11)

Coronavirus cases are once again on the rise in Los Angeles County, according to data released Monday, prompting officials to urge residents to keep up safety protocols as the spring break holiday season arrives. Data show that for the seven-day period that ended Monday, an average of 960 new cases were reported daily countywide, which equates to 67 cases a week for every 100,000 residents. That’s up 23% from the previous week, when L.A. County reported an average of 783 cases a day. (Money and Lin II, 4/11)

COVID-19 cases are showing signs of rising again, even as many Americans are eager to move on. ... While there are now upticks in the Northeast, there are not yet signs of the massive spike that hit over the winter. That omicron variant-fueled spike already infected many people, helping provide them some immunity against the current outbreak, in addition to the immunity provided by vaccines and booster shots. (Sullivan, 4/11)

Less than one in 10 Americans now describe COVID-19 as a crisis — with about three in four calling it a manageable problem and one in six saying it's no problem at all — according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index. These sentiments — and the public's growing desire to be done with mask mandates and other restrictions — raise significant challenges for public health officials in managing new surges, and could create real political headwinds ahead of the midterms. (Talev, 4/12)

Children older than 5 years and those with high concentrations of ferritin in the blood—an indicator of inflammation—were at highest risk for intensive care unit (ICU) admission for COVID-19–related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), finds a study today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). (4/11)

No week of the omicron wave saw more deaths than the week of Jan. 30 to Feb. 5. More than 18,400 deaths were recorded, according to NBC News’ tally, more deaths in a single week than in all of June and July 2021 combined. The death toll — which occurred two weeks after cases peaked across the United States — made the week the deadliest thus far of 2022 and one of the deadliest weeks of the pandemic. (Chiwaya, 4/7)

Since the pandemic arrived in March of 2020, the COVID-19 virus has officially killed just more than 38,000 Ohioans. In Kentucky, the number is nearing 15,000. Cincinnati has recorded 565 deaths, with nearly 5,000 for the eight-county Greater Cincinnati region. Later this spring or early this summer, the national death toll, now just more than 980,000, will hit 1 million. It is likely to be a muted milestone. “People seem to have moved on and stopped paying attention," said Josh Nelson, a Kennedy Heights resident who works as a political and nonprofit consultant. (Gallagher Newberry, 4/12)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced on Monday that she has tested negative for COVID-19 and will exit isolation on Tuesday. She tweeted: "Today, happily I tested negative for COVID. Tomorrow, I will be exiting isolation at the direction of the Capitol’s Attending Physician and consistent with CDC guidelines for asymptomatic individuals. Many thanks to everyone for their good wishes, chocolates and chicken soup." (Schnell, 4/11)

KHN: Colorado Moves Toward Statewide Coverage Of Wastewater Surveillance

On a Sunday morning in March 2020, right at the start of the pandemic, an article in Popular Mechanics caught engineer Pieter Van Ry’s eye. It had a catchy title: “How Poop Offers Hints About the Spread of Coronavirus.” “At the end of that article, it said, ‘If you have a wastewater facility and you’re interested in participating in this study, please contact us,’” he said. As a matter of fact, Van Ry did have a wastewater facility. He is the director of South Platte Renew, a wastewater treatment plant in Englewood, Colorado, that serves 300,000 people. He filled out the form, and South Platte joined the first facilities in the nation to start testing wastewater for covid-19. (Daley, 4/12)