The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the U.S. could be experiencing a summer COVID surge.

Wastewater testing used to determine COVID levels in a community has shown a recent sharp uptick of the virus in several states, including Alaska, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Montana and New Mexico, The Hill reported. Emergency room visits related to COVID have also increased, spiking almost 13% in one week with the biggest jumps in Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia, though they still account for only 0.6% of all ER visits nationwide.

According to the CDC, the number of COVID infections is growing or likely growing in 34 states – including in Alabama. The other states show a decline or stable infection rates.

Cases involving intensive medical intervention remains low, however, with no uptick in hospitalizations or death rates in recent weeks.

Experts point to new dominant ‘FLiRT’ subvariants such as KP.3 for the apparent summer surge. FLiRT variants, which include KP.3, KP.2 and KP.1.1 or any of those starting with KP or JN, combined for more than 47% of all COVID cases in the past two weeks in the U.S.

Such mutations are to be expected, the CDC pointed out.

“Viruses constantly change through mutation and sometimes these mutations result in a new variant of the virus. Some changes and mutations allow the virus to spread more easily or make it resistant to treatments or vaccines. As the virus spreads, it may change and become harder to stop,” the agency said on its website.

The positive news is FLiRT variants do not appear to cause more severe illness than previous variants and the pattern of infection appears to be the same. According to John Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, people typically develop symptoms five or more days after exposure, though they can appear soon. People are contagious one or two days before they experience symptoms and a few days after symptoms subside. However, as with previous variants, some people may have live virus for up to a week after their symptoms begin and some may experience rebound symptoms.

Common symptoms for FLiRT include:

• Sore throat
• Cough
• Fatigue
• Congestion
• Runny nose
• Headache
• Muscle aches
• Fever or chills
• New loss of sense of taste or smell
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea