Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA Profile picture
Sep 3 9 tweets 4 min read Read on X
PMC Dashboard Update (U.S.) 🧵1 of 8

The 11th wave is still rising.
🔥23 states/territories High/Very High
🔥Very High: Alabama, DC, Guam, Hawai'i, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas, Utah
🔥1 in 56 estimated actively infectious
🔥876,000 new daily infections CDC heat map, very high states noted in post. PMC estimate of 1 in 56 actively infectious nationwide
PMC Dashboard Update (U.S.) 🧵2 of 8

Note that the CDC has modified 📉 how transmission levels correspond to the categorical bins.

Take California. We estimate 1 in 30 actively infectious statewide. This would have previously been "Very High," now just "High."
#NewNormal CDC heatmap, with PMC estimate of 1 in 30
PMC Dashboard Update (U.S.) 🧵3 of 8

Here are the prevalence estimates for the first half of states/territories.

Notice how high the levels are in some of the "Moderate" states. State	CDC Level Alabama	Very High Alaska	High Arizona	High Arkansas	Moderate California	High Colorado	Moderate Connecticut	High Delaware	High District of Columbia	Very High Florida	High Georgia	Moderate Guam	Very High Hawaii	Very High Idaho	High Illinois	Very Low Indiana	Moderate* Iowa	Low Kansas	Low Kentucky	High Louisiana	Very High Maine	Low Maryland	Moderate Massachusetts	Moderate Michigan	Very Low Minnesota	Moderate Mississippi	High*
PMC Dashboard Update (U.S.) 🧵4 of 8

Here are the prevalence estimates for the second half of states/territories.

What's striking here is that you see some of the "Very Low" states like NY and NM are at nearly 1% actively infectious. Missouri	High* Montana	Low Nebraska	Very High Nevada	Very High New Hampshire	Low New Jersey	Low New Mexico	Very Low New York	Very Low North Carolina	Moderate North Dakota	Moderate* Ohio	Very Low* Oklahoma	Very Low* Oregon	Moderate Pennsylvania	Low Rhode Island	Very Low South Carolina	Very High South Dakota	High Tennessee	Moderate Texas	Very High Utah	Very High Vermont	Moderate Virginia	High Washington	High West Virginia	Low Wisconsin	Very Low Wyoming	Moderate
PMC Dashboard Update (U.S.) 🧵5 of 8

We're in an 11th COVlD wave.

Many are getting infected while waiting on delayed vaccine approvals. Millions more are being denied vaccine access entirely.

Few public health groups mention the importance of N95 masks and air purifiers. Longitudinal graph of the 11 waves of COVlD in the U.S.
PMC Dashboard Update (U.S.) 🧵6 of 8

Based on Swiss Re actuarial data, we partition excess deaths according to wastewater levels & estimate up to 2,900 Americans will die from this week's infections.

They will be cardiovascular, cancer, & misc deaths. Rarely counted as C19. Infections										pmc19.com/data Proportion Actively Infectious										1 in 56 (1.8%) New Daily Infections										 876,000  Infections the Past Week										 6,040,000  Infections in 2025										 153,000,000  Cumulative Infections per Person										 4.57  										 Long COVID										 Long COVID Cases Resulting								44,000 to 175,000		   from New Daily Infections										 Long COVID Cases Resulting								302,000 to 1,210,000		   from New Weekly Infections										 										 Excess Deaths										 Excess Deaths Resulting 									250 to 420	   from New Daily Infections			...
PMC Dashboard Update (U.S.) 🧵7 of 8

We just had the largest relative increase in summer transmission in 4 years.

But transmission has leveled off (red line). This is atypical based on the most similar prior waves (blue, yellow).

We may so a retroactive correction upward. year over year graph of transmission
PMC Dashboard Update (U.S.) 🧵8 of 8

We have improved the forecasting model, especially for summer waves, but have increased the expected level of error in real-time reporting (CDC corrections, Biobot lags), which yields broader confidence intervals.

If the CDC retroactively corrects the most recent real-time data upward, which is plausible, we could head toward 1.2-1.5 million new daily infections. If the numbers hold, the peak will be closer to 0.9 to 1.0 million new daily infections and occur around Sept 6. Significant transmission occurs on the back end of waves. Most people won't even realize we're in a wave until mid to late September.

I don't envision a more optimistic scenario but hope for it.Graph of the forecasting model. Shows hovering around 900k daily NDIs for the central prediction, peak around Sept 6
Find the full report at

I'll post plenty of explainer posts over the next 2 weeks. Please also use, improve, and share widely. I'm mostly here and on IG these days.pmc19.com/data

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More from @michael_hoerger

Aug 21
During times like these when COVlD transmission heats up in the U.S., expect to see a lot more angry outbursts for three central reasons.

First, "displacement," or people trying to deny the reality of their anxiety by taking it out on other people....
Second, a lot of people can sustain a strong denial of reality about the ongoing pandemic during lulls. They suppress the existence of COVlD waves and excess deaths, disability, and retirements.

During waves, those defenses burst. Loss of control = anger...
Third, a lot of people (many reading this) understand COVlD correctly & experience righteous indignation during COVlD waves. We quite reasonably do not like all of the unjust and gratuitous suffering.

I find it helpful to channel that intensity into helping other people....
Read 6 tweets
Aug 19
I submitted my comment to endorse universal high-quality masks (respirators) in healthcare. Today is the final day.

Alt text continues in the following posts. RE: Z94.4, Selection, use, and care of respirators (New Edition)  Dear Colleagues,  As the director of a population science program at a major U.S. cancer center, I strongly endorse this draft proposal to increase the use of high-quality well-fitting masks (respirators) in medical settings. I will comment on the relevance of this proposal mainly for cancer care. In the U.S., cancer care is commonly more organized than other specialty care and, thus, often leads the way on policy initiatives, which then translate to other elements of care over time.  1. COVID-19 continues to cause excess dea...
They put forth projections, with the most granular detail for the U.S. and U.K., suggesting excess deaths will persist through at least 2033. Their projections do not show excess deaths stopping in 2033; that is simply the final year of their current analysis. Moreover, while they provide the most data for the U.S. and U.K., their analysis suggests a more general trend throughout the globe. The COVID-19-associated excess deaths are commonly identified as cardiovascular and cancer causes of death.   Swiss Re Institute. (2024). The future of excess mortality after COVID-19. https://www.swissr...
Alt text continued 2. The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 continues to transmit at high rates worldwide. Overall, 28 nations continue to use wastewater surveillance to monitor SARS-CoV-2 levels. A directory is available at the dashboard that I oversee (pmc19.com/data). In the U.S., we are currently experiencing our 11th wave of transmission. Many nations are experiencing annual or twice annual waves of transmission.
Alt text continued 3. International consensus standards identify a broad range of patients at known high-risk of severe outcomes of COVID-19. The largest group at known high risk of severe outcomes is patients with cancer. Other diagnoses associated with above average risk include people undergoing transplants or receiving dialysis, and patients with any of these diagnoses: immunodeficiencies, renal disease, systemic-immune mediated or single-site immune-mediated inflammatory conditions, asplenia, anatomical barrier defects, pregnancy, and diabetes. These findings underscore the importance of standards in hea...
Read 7 tweets
Aug 16
🚩🚩🚩
As a vigorous defender of #CDC data, their switch from using normalized to non-normalized COVlD wastewater surveillance data today harms data quality.

"Normalizing" means accounting for basic confounders like rain levels. It is a choice to use worse data.
1/5🧵 Image
Historically, the CDC data have correlated near-perfectly with similar metrics, such as Biobot's wastewater estimates (still active) or the IHME true case estimates (through mid-2023).

The changes reduce those correlations. It's like going from an A+ to a B.

2/5🧵
You can readily see the loss of data quality in the PMC "whole pandemic" graph (preview shown, subject to change) with choppier waves, caused by the CDC adding extra noise to the data and applying retroactively from BA.1 Omicron to present.

3/5🧵 Longitudinal graph of the pandemic waves. Notice how they start becoming choppier in 2022, as a result of today's changes at the CDC
Read 5 tweets
Aug 12
PMC COVID Dashboard, August 11, 2025 (U.S.)

The CDC says transmission is heating up.

"Very High" (3)
🔺Guam
🔺Hawai'i
🔺Louisiana

"High" (12)
🔺Alabama
🔺Alaska
🔺California
🔺Colorado
🔺Delaware
🔺Florida
🔺Indiana
🔺Mississippi
🔺Nevada
🔺S. Carolina
🔺Texas
🔺Utah

🧵1/12Heat map from CDC data. High/Very high states noted in post
Transmission is highest in these regions. Graphics note the CDC levels and PMC prevalence estimates.

🔥Louisiana (Very High): 1 in 19 actively infectious
🔥Guam (Very High): 1 in 26
🔥Hawai'i (Very High): 1 in 28
🔥Texas (High): 1 in 45

🧵2/12 Graphics show heat maps and prevalence estimates, noted in the post
Statewide transmission remains "High" in Florida, according to the CDC. PMC estimates 1 in 50 actively infectious.

Several cities report "Very High" transmission. Several sites are offline.

🧵3/12 Heat map and prevalence estimate noted in the post
Read 12 tweets
Jul 29
PMC COVID Dashboard, July 28, 2025 (U.S.)
🧵1/12

PMC estimates 400,000 new daily infections. 1 in 118 people actively infectious.

Weekly stats:
🔹2.8 million infections (>40x reported cases)
🔹>140,000 resulting #LongCOVID cases
🔹>1,000 resulting excess deaths Heat map Very High: Louisiana, Guam High: Hawai'i, Florida
PMC COVID Dashboard, July 28, 2025 (U.S.)
🧵2/12

Please excuse any typos and delays. Any time Mimal's boot turns deep red, we're doing local outreach in addition to dashboard work, etc.

If you don't know Mimal yet, you won't be able to unsee them.
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIMALDeep red boot = Louisiana
Minnesota (M), Iowa (I), Missouri (M), Arkansas (A), Louisiana (L) = Mimal  Louisiana is the boot.   Sometimes depicted with Kentucky fried chicken on a Tennessee pan.
PMC COVID Dashboard, July 28, 2025 (U.S.)
🧵3/12

It's HOT COVID SUMMER in the Deep South. No geographic/political prejudices, see next.

Covid is burning through Guam, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas (underestimate due to sites down). Louisiana: 1 in 32, Very High (CDC)
Texas: 1 in 98, Moderate (underestimate, CDC)
Guam: 1 in 25, Very High (CDC)
Florida: 1 in 59, High (CDC)
Read 12 tweets
Jul 25
U.S. CDC numbers just released. Good news (for those not in Louisiana). "Only" a 5% national increase.

2025 has closely tracked with summer 2023 transmission. A 12-13% increase would have been expected based on those numbers. That said... Up: Midwest, Northeast Down: West, South
real-time data have been prone to retroactive corrections. This is frustrating, of course, because it leaves people making decisions based on data that are only of good quality when 2 weeks old.

If we saw a 12% increase this week, I'd say look at 2023 for a glimpse...
at the future. Instead, I would consider these plausible scenarios:
🔹Wave still similar to 2023
🔹Later wave with schools more implicated
🔹Something temporarily much better

Of course, temporarily better often means...
Read 6 tweets

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