MEMPHIS, Tenn. - It may be gone from the daily headlines, but COVID-19 is not done with us.
Cases are once again on the rise just in time for the start of the new school year.
Doctors say the increase is likely due to summer travel and the hot weather keeping people indoors.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said a new coronavirus subvariant, EG.5, now accounts for the largest proportion of COVID infections in the U.S.
EG.5 is part of the omicron family and presents similar symptoms.
At this point, health experts say many of us have some sort of immunity, which makes the rise in cases more manageable.
The Shelby County Health Department reported 447 new COVID cases the week of July 30.
"Over the past few days particularly, we have gotten a lot of phone calls from people who are now COVID positive," Dr. Steve Threlkeld, an infectious disease specialist at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis said.
Though it is a rise, Dr. Threlkeld, who has tracked COVID cases in Shelby County from the very beginning, said numbers are nowhere near what they were during the pandemic.
"Not near as many of them are crucially ill or even hospitalized, because of our wall now of immunity we've had from vaccines and previous infections from COVID," he said.
With the school year now underway, the increase in cases may lead to some concern for parents.
Dr. Sandy Arnold, the chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Le Bonheur Children's hospital, urges parents not to panic.
"I think for kids, COVID has turned out to not be a very serious disease, but I don't want to underplay it because I still think it is important that children are vaccinated," she said. "I think each individual school is going to do their own thing regarding whether they request you test your child for COVID."
Doctors say it's hard to tell when or if we will have a "COVID season," or a certain time of the year, where we see an influx of cases.
The first new vaccines updated for this fall season are expected to be available by the end of September.
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