Pandemic is Over — But Covid is Here to Stay

Jane Jewell • February 6, 2024

The good news is that the covid pandemic is over, but the bad news is that covid isn’t gone for good. Instead, experts say, covid is here to stay.

The covid virus has become pervasive almost everywhere, and like flu, the common cold, and other ordinary illnesses, covid is now endemic, with seasonal and local fluctuations. It’s the new normal.

Covid is still dangerous and now surging again across the United States.

Along with flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), cases of covid have been rising sharply since December 2023.

Nationwide, hospitalizations from covid were up 20% for the week ending December 30.
That same week, deaths rose 13%, with covid deaths accounting for 3.6% of all deaths in the U.S.

Covid has been among the leading causes of death in the U.S. every year since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, and this year doesn’t look any different.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hospital admissions for covid peaked at 7,778 in January 2024.

For comparison, in January 2022, covid hospitalizations reached the all-time national high of over 145,000. Infections were at record levels then, with the national number of new cases at over 700,000 per day.

This winter, the numbers are much lower. However, they are still high, with continuing — though lower — peaks and valleys.

This surge in hospitalizations reflects holiday travel and socializing from Thanksgiving through New Year’s, as well as the appearance of a new Omicron variant, JN.1, nicknamed Pirola.

This variant was detected in last August and showed up a month later in the U.S.

In mid-November, it was responsible for 3.5% of U.S. covid cases.
By mid-December, it accounted for 21%.
By January 5 of this year, that percentage had risen to 62%.
Two weeks later it reached 85% and is expected to continue to rise.

Fortunately, even though it is more contagious, Pirola doesn’t appear to cause more serious disease. It has a new mutation that helps it evade vaccine protection more easily, though vaccines still protect against severe illness or death. As with previous covid strains, early data on JN.1 indicate that the unvaccinated are three to five times more likely to die from a covid infection.

After an early January peak, hospitalization rates began to drop, but not by much. Two weeks later, there was still an average of 6,754 new hospitalizations every day for that week.

This current surge in covid cases and hospitalizations is driven by several factors. Cold and dry winter weather is more hospitable to viruses in general and keeps people indoors which concentrates the virus and prolongs exposure. Good indoor air circulation can significantly reduce infections, as can efficient, high quality air filters.

Covid Hot (and Warm!) Spots

The above numbers are all national statistics, showing that covid is increasing in the U.S. However, covid rates fluctuate locally, creating hot spots. These hot spots change rapidly; as one hot spot fades another arises.

The map below shows known U.S. covid hot spots as of January 20 as measured by daily hospital admissions.

Fewer than 10 admissions per 100,000 population is considered low.
Medium is 10-19.9 hospitalizations.
Any area with an admission rate of 20 or more is considered high.

There are hot spots across the U.S. Numerous areas are over 20; some are as high as 50 (red) or 75 or more (dark purple). The Eastern Shore is one such area.

The grey on the map covers areas for which there is no data. Since the pandemic was declared officially over in May 2023, the reporting of covid statistics is no longer mandatory, so many municipalities have stopped collecting or reporting their local covid cases. There are undoubtedly more hot spots in those grey areas.

The Maryland State Public Health Services sent out an advisory letter on December 28, strongly recommending that medical facilities increase their safety measures against covid and other respiratory illnesses by re-instituting universal masking and other protective measures until Maryland’s combined hospitalization for all respiratory illnesses stays below 10 per 100,000 population for two consecutive weeks. The state-wide rate was 11.4 on December 16 but much higher in the hot spots.

The enlarged section of the map shows that large parts of the Eastern Shore had high hospitalization rates of 45-75 and up per 100,000 residents.

95 per 100,000 populations in the Easton hospital service area
38 in the Chestertown hospital service area
10 in the Salisbury hospital area
15 in nearby Wilmington, Delaware

These rates are for hospitals, not towns or counties. Some hospitals have more beds and services, drawing people from outside the hospital’s geographical area, thus possibly exaggerating the prevalence of covid in the surrounding area while underestimating the amount in other areas.

Sources and More Information:

“COVID-19 Activity Increases as Prevalence of JN.1 Variant Continues to Rise,” CDC, Jan. 5, 2024.

https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/whats-new/JN.1-update-2024-01-05.html

“Maryland hospitals seeing post-holiday increase in COVID and flu cases,” Angela Roberts, Baltimore Sun, Jan. 8, 2024. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/01/08/respiratory-season-flu-covid-rsv-hospitals/

“Md. Health Department Urges Masks, Vaccination after Respiratory Illness-related Hospitalizations,” Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters, Jan. 4, 2024. https://www.marylandmatters.org/2024/01/04/md-health-department-urges-masks-vaccination-after-respiratory-illness-related-hospitalizations/

“Track Covid-19 in the U.S.,” New York Times, updated Jan. 30, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/us/covid-cases.html

“We’re In a Major COVID-19 Surge. It’s Our New Normal,” Jamie Ducharme, Time Magazine, Jan. 12, 2024.

https://time.com/6554340/covid-19-surge-2024/

“What to know about JN.1, newly dominant COVID-19 variant in US: Symptoms and more,” Caroline Kee, Today, Jan. 19, 2024.

https://www.today.com/health/coronavirus/jn-1-covid-variant-symptoms-rcna129344

“What to Know about the New COVID Variant JN.1,” Julie Appleby, KFF Health News, Jan. 8, 2024.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-to-know-about-the-new-covid-variant-jn-1/

Jane Jewell is a writer, editor, photographer, and teacher. She has worked in news, publishing, and as the director of a national writer's group. She lives in Chestertown with her husband Peter Heck, a ginger cat named Riley, and a lot of books.

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Common Sense for the Eastern Shore

Six Reasons Why the House Budget Bill Will Hurt Rural America

By Michael Chameides, Barn Raiser • May 21, 2025

Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.

Who Will SNAP Cuts Affect in Maryland? On the Eastern Shore?

By Catlin Nchako, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities • May 21, 2025

The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.

Not Law Yet

By Jan Plotczyk • May 21, 2025

Apparently, some people think that the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” is a foregone conclusion, and that the struggle over the budget and Trump’s agenda is over and done. Not true. On Sunday night, the bill — given the alternate name “Big Bad Bullsh*t Bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus — was voted out of the House Budget Committee. The GOP plan is to pass this legislation in the House before Memorial Day. But that’s not the end of it. As Jessica Craven explained in her Chop Wood Carry Water column: “Remember, we have at least six weeks left in this process. The bill has to: Pass the House, Then head to the Senate where it will likely be rewritten almost completely, Then be passed there, Then be brought back to the House for reconciliation, And then, if the House changes that version at all, Go back to the Senate for another vote.” She adds, “Every step of that process is a place for us to kill it.” The bill is over a thousand pages long, and the American people will not get a chance to read it until it has passed the House. But, thanks to 5Calls , we know it includes:

Eastern Shore Delegation: 2025 “Highlights”

By Jared Schablein, Shore Progress • May 13, 2025

Let's talk about our Eastern Shore Delegation, the representatives who are supposed to fight for our nine Shore counties in Annapolis, and what they actually got up to this session.

Democrats reach historic goal: A full slate in Virginia House races

By Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury • May 12, 2025

For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Democrats have candidates running in all 100 House of Delegates districts — a milestone party leaders and grassroots organizers say reflects rising momentum as President Donald Trump’s second term continues to galvanize opposition.

2025 General Assembly Report: Results for Working Families on the Eastern Shore

By Jared Schablein, Shore Progress • April 22, 2025

The 447th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 8. This End of Session Report highlights the work Shore Progress has done to fight for working families and bring real results home to the Shore. Over the 90-day session, lawmakers debated 1,901 bills and passed 878 into law. Shore Progress and members supported legislation that delivers for the Eastern Shore, protecting our environment, expanding access to housing and healthcare, strengthening workers’ rights, and more. Shore Progress Supported Legislation By The Numbers: Over 60 pieces of our backed legislation were passed. Another 15 passed in one Chamber but not the other. Legislation details are below, past the budget section. The 2026 Maryland State Budget How We Got Here: Maryland’s budget problems didn’t start overnight. They began under Governor Larry Hogan. Governor Hogan expanded the state budget yearly but blocked the legislature from moving money around or making common-sense changes. Instead of fixing the structural issues, Hogan used federal covid relief funds to hide the cracks and drained our state’s savings from $5.5 billion to $2.3 billion to boost his image before leaving office. How Trump/Musk Made It Worse: Maryland is facing a new fiscal crisis driven by the Trump–Musk administration, whose trade wars, tariff policies, and deep federal cuts have hit us harder than most, costing the state over 30,000 jobs, shuttering offices, and erasing promised investments. A University of Maryland study estimates Trump’s tariffs alone could cost us $2 billion, and those federal cuts have already added $300 million to our budget deficit. Covid aid gave us a short-term boost and even created a fake surplus under Hogan, but that money is gone, while housing, healthcare, and college prices keep rising. The Trump–Musk White House is only making things worse by slashing funding, gutting services, and eliminating research that Marylanders rely on. How The State Budget Fixes These Issues: This year, Maryland faced a $3 billion budget gap, and the General Assembly fixed it with a smart mix of cuts and fair new revenue, while protecting working families, schools, and health care. The 2025 Budget cuts $1.9 billion ($400 million less than last year) without gutting services people rely on. The General Assembly raised $1.2 billion in fair new revenue, mostly from the wealthiest Marylanders. The Budget ended with a $350 million surplus, plus $2.4 billion saved in the Rainy Day Fund (more than 9% of general fund revenue), which came in $7 million above what the Spending Affordability Committee called for. The budget protects funding for our schools, health care, transit, and public workers. The budget delivers real wins: $800 million more annually for transit and infrastructure, plus $500 million for long-term transportation needs. It invests $9.7 billion in public schools and boosts local education aid by $572.5 million, a 7% increase. If current revenue trends hold, no new taxes will be needed next session. Even better, 94% of Marylanders will see a tax cut or no change, while only the wealthiest 5% will finally pay their fair share. The tax system is smarter now. We’re: Taxing IT and data services like Texas and D.C. do; Raising taxes on cannabis and sports betting, not groceries or medicine; and Letting counties adjust income taxes. The budget also restores critical funding: $122 million for teacher planning $15 million for cancer research $11 million for crime victims $7 million for local business zones, and Continued support for public TV, the arts, and BCCC The budget invests in People with disabilities, with $181 million in services Growing private-sector jobs with $139 million in funding, including $27.5 million for quantum tech, $16 million for the Sunny Day Fund, and $10 million for infrastructure loans. Health care is protected for 1.5 million Marylanders, with $15.6 billion for Medicaid and higher provider pay. Public safety is getting a boost too, with $60 million for victim services, $5.5 million for juvenile services, and $5 million for parole and probation staffing. This budget also tackles climate change with $100 million for clean energy and solar projects, and $200 million in potential ratepayer relief. Public workers get a well-deserved raise, with $200 million in salary increases, including a 1% COLA and ~2.5% raises for union workers. The ultra-wealthy will finally chip in to pay for it: People earning over $750,000 will pay more, Millionaires will pay 6.5%, and Capital gains over $350,000 get a 2% surcharge. Deductions are capped for high earners, but working families can still deduct student loans, medical debt, and donations. This budget is bold, fair, and built to last. That’s why Shore Progress proudly supports it. Click on the arrows below for details in each section.