TRACKING EMERGING VIRUSES – July 16, 2025 – Covid
“Cases of COVID-19 are now likely growing in 25 states, according to estimates published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, as this year’s summer wave of the virus appears to be getting underway.”
A CDC analysis published Thursday concluded that the virus has settled into twice-a-year surges nationwide, typically peaking first in July through September and then a second time later in December through February.
Those surges look to be linked to cycles of genetic changes to a part of the virus that scientists call the S1 region, a key part of the spike protein of the virus that binds to human cells.
“Our analysis revealed biannual COVID-19 peaks in late summer and winter, a pattern that is expected to persist as long as the rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and cyclical S1 diversity continues,” the scientists wrote in the CDC analysis.” (1)
“With summer travel at an all-time high, new COVID-19 variants are brewing. Officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) recently added another one to its list of variants under monitoring: XFG.”
“This designation is the least urgent of WHO’s variant categories, which escalate from “variant under monitoring” to “variant of interest” to “variant of concern.” But while variants under monitoring pose a low immediate risk to people, they show signs of being able to grow and potentially spread more easily than other circulating variants that don’t get an official WHO designation. WHO is watching XFG closely, but it is so new that experts aren’t sure yet what the health consequences of such growth might be.” (2)
“Major medical groups are suing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump administration leaders over changes to US vaccine policy.
Major medical groups are suing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump administration leaders over changes to US vaccine policy. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/FILE
Medical associations representing hundreds of thousands of doctors, medical professionals and scientists in the United States are suing the leaders of US health agencies for limiting who can get Covid-19 vaccines and for undermining overall vaccine confidence.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in US District Court in Massachusetts, was brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the American Public Health Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Massachusetts Public Health Association D/B/A the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and an unnamed doctor who is pregnant and fears that she will be unable to get the Covid-19 vaccine.” (3)
“A pregnant physician who was denied a Covid-19 vaccine is suing the Trump administration alongside a group of leading doctors associations, charging that the administration sought to “desensitize the public to anti-vaccine and anti-science rhetoric”, according to their attorney.
The lawsuit specifically takes aim at health secretary Robert F Kennedy’s unilateral decision to recommend against Covid-19 vaccines for pregnant women and healthy children.
Kennedy’s announcement circumvented expert scientific review panels and flouted studies showing pregnant women are at heightened risk from the virus, and made it more difficult for some to get the vaccine.” (4)
“Outbreaks of new types of infections and, yes, even pandemics are becoming increasingly likely, and we need to prepare for not only the next one but also its long-lasting physical and mental effects, experts said.
“The reality is that pandemics are going to hit. They’re going to hit again,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis who researches long covid. “It’s not a matter of if. It is a matter of when.”
In the past five years, covid has caused serious amounts of chronic illness and disability. The SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to infect people every day, and an estimated 20 million Americans are still dealing with the many symptoms of long covid.
Researchers are improving our understanding of the biological causes of long covid and working toward treatments. These advances may help not only people facing chronic illnesses today but also postinfection syndromes of the future.
But experts are worried that despite the hard-won lessons of covid, we are not fully prepared for the next pandemic and its aftermath due to decreases in research funding and support, and polarization of public health measures.” (5)
“Long COVID lacks definitive diagnostic criteria, biomarkers, and established treatments, similar to many psychiatric disorders.”
“Long COVID presents complex symptoms without clear diagnostic criteria, challenging traditional medical understanding and emphasizing the need for compassionate care.” (6)
“The city’s last public walk-in rapid COVID-19 testing clinic will close on July 18.
The clinic, run by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, offered free PCR testing and returned results in 24 hours. It also tested for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the flu. Its closure represents one of the last scalings back of emergency operations the city built up in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The closure of the Crown Heights COVID Express Clinic is part of a long-term plan to sunset federally funded COVID-19 programs and services given the availability of other service options,” said Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse in a statement on Wednesday.
At the height of the pandemic, the Crown Heights site tested hundreds of people, but in recent months had about 15 people come in on busy days, according to a source familiar with the site’s operations who was not authorized to speak publicly. The person said New Yorkers from across the boroughs visited the site for tests as other clinics closed down.
Though New York City’s COVID rates have dipped dramatically in recent years, data shows spikes in cases in the winter and smaller bumps in the summer.” (7)
1.COVID cases likely rising in half of states, CDC estimates, by Alexander Tin, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-cases-likely-rising-half-of-states-cdc-estimates/
2.What to Know About the New COVID-19 Variant XFG, By Alice Park, https://time.com/7300451/new-covid-19-variant-xfg/”
3.Major medical associations sue Kennedy, Trump administration health leaders for Covid-19 vaccine changes, By Jen Christensen, https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/07/health/vaccine-lawsuit-hhs-rfk-aap
4.Pregnant doctor denied Covid-19 vaccine sues Trump administration, by Jessica Glenza, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/07/pregnant-doctor-covid-19-vaccine-rfk-jr-trump
5.What long covid can teach us about future pandemics, By Richard Sima, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2025/07/09/long-covid-lessons-future-pandemics/
6. What Long COVID Can Teach Psychiatry—and Its Critics, by Ronald W. Pies, https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/what-long-covid-can-teach-psychiatry-and-its-critics
7. The Last City-Run Walk-In COVID Test Center to Close, by Samantha Maldonado, https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/09/last-city-run-covid-test-center/
curated by Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.
Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai