Six were health care workers who encountered the first American known to be infected with bird flu without previous exposure to a sick animal, and the other was a close household contact of the patient. All developed mild respiratory symptoms after their exposure.
...Other indicators, however, showed small declines, including test positivity, which was at 14.9% last week, down 1.6% from the previous week. Levels are highest in the central states, which include Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Emergency department visits declined last week but are still at the moderate level in a few southeastern states.
In only four states in the entire country the rate was above 15 percent. Region Seven, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, had the highest rate in the country as of the week ending on December 16, 18.5 percent. For weeks the four states have been identified as the worst-hit by the virus in the country, with more people testing positive than anywhere else.
Region Seven—an administrative area consisting of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska—is once again at the top of this chart as it has the highest proportion of COVID-19 diagnoses following testing. That region saw the most cases out of the entire U.S. in last week's figures, too.
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