COVID cluster outbreaks could signal pandemic is nearing the end

Upticks in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in central southeastern states such as West Virginia and Kentucky are considered signs that the pandemic is on its way out and shifting toward endemicity.

As more people gain immunity to the coronavirus, through either vaccination or infection, the virus has fewer opportunities to spread and mutate into variants that are better at infecting people. The pandemic’s demotion to the endemic level at which the virus circulates globally at manageable levels is likely around the corner, infectious disease experts say, but the delta variant is still ripping through states such as West Virginia and Kentucky, where immunogenicity is low.