---
title: "COVID-19 shows early stirrings of a summer surge in California"
description: "California's coronavirus indicators are ticking up again, with wastewater levels rising and a new variant spreading, early signs of a summer wave. Health officials say the trend is worth watching but so far looks milder than recent summers."
category: "California"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/california
author: "Tyler Grant"
published: 2026-07-14T22:56:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-14T22:56:00.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/covid-19-shows-early-stirrings-of-a-summer-surge-in-california
tags: ["covid-19", "public health", "california", "coronavirus", "variants"]
---
# COVID-19 shows early stirrings of a summer surge in California

California's coronavirus indicators are ticking up again, with wastewater levels rising and a new variant spreading, early signs of a summer wave. Health officials say the trend is worth watching but so far looks milder than recent summers.

After months of quiet, the coronavirus is stirring again in California. Surveillance data point to the early stages of a summer wave, [an uptick SFGate described as the "stirrings of a summer surge,"](https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/covid-summer-bay-area-22345320.php) though the numbers so far remain well below the peaks of past years.

## What the data show

The clearest signal comes from the sewers. Wastewater surveillance, which tracks the virus shed by a whole community regardless of who gets tested, has climbed in parts of California in recent weeks, with the state and much of the Bay Area registering elevated levels on [the CDC's national monitoring system](https://www.cdc.gov/wastewater/respiratory-viruses/state.html). Laboratory test positivity has edged up as well, a familiar early marker that circulation is increasing.

These indicators tend to move before hospitalizations do, so a rise in wastewater and positivity is often the first hint that more infections are coming. For now, hospital and emergency-room measures remain low, a reason officials are watching closely rather than sounding alarms.

## A new variant in the mix

Part of the summer's activity is being driven by newer Omicron descendants. A subvariant nicknamed "Nimbus" (NB.1.8.1) has become one of the most common strains in national sequencing, and it has been associated anecdotally with a painful, "razor blade" sore throat on top of the usual COVID symptoms of fever, cough, congestion and fatigue. Health authorities have not found evidence that current variants cause more severe illness than recent ones.

## How this summer compares

COVID has settled into a pattern of summer bumps as well as winter ones, and by the standards of that pattern this year's early rise looks relatively modest. Recent summer waves crested higher and later; this one is, at least so far, gentler. A key factor is waning immunity: as time passes since the last wave or vaccine dose, more people become susceptible again, which lets even a not-especially-severe variant spread.

## What officials advise

Public-health guidance is unchanged and familiar. The CDC continues to recommend that people at higher risk, those 65 and older, people with underlying conditions and the immunocompromised, stay up to date on COVID vaccination, and that anyone with symptoms test and stay home while sick. Masks in crowded indoor settings still offer protection during a wave, and antiviral treatment remains available by prescription for those who qualify.

For most Californians, the practical takeaway is modest: the virus is circulating a little more than it was a few weeks ago, it is worth a bit more caution around vulnerable friends and relatives, and, as ever, the surest protection for those most at risk is not to wait for a wave to crest before acting. The figures here reflect the most recent readings available and can shift week to week.

## Sources

- [COVID-19 is showing 'stirrings of a summer surge' in California](https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/covid-summer-bay-area-22345320.php)
- [CDC wastewater monitoring for respiratory viruses](https://www.cdc.gov/wastewater/respiratory-viruses/state.html)