Covid is on the rise again—so what next?

It is reasonably certain that we have entered another covid-19 wave, writes Christina Pagel. But what are the implications? There are very few ways now to track the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in England since the end of wastewater monitoring in March 2022, the end of the Office for National Statistics Covid-19 Infection Survey in March 2023, and the gradual reduction of SARS-CoV-2 testing in hospitals since August 2022.123 However, all indications are that prevalence reached its lowest level this June/July since the summer of 2020. Weekly deaths with covid on the death certificate from that period are at the lowest recorded level since the start of the pandemic.4 But since the start of July 2023, daily hospital admissions with covid have been increasing (more than doubled as at 4 August compared to four weeks earlier), and the number of patients in hospital primarily because of covid has also doubled in that time.56 Secondary indicators such as the Zoe Symptom Tracker app and …