By THIS Newsroom | September 14, 2026
COVID-19 is once again climbing across the United States, and several schools have already experienced enough illness to temporarily shut their doors.
The latest federal data show a broad increase in transmission as Americans head into the fall. However, the numbers also reveal an important distinction: infections may be increasing across most of the country, but severe illness remains comparatively low.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 activity is currently elevated and increasing nationally, while COVID-related hospitalizations remain low. The CDC also reports that overall acute respiratory illness causing people to seek medical care remains at a very low level nationally.
That combination makes the latest COVID wave different from the crisis Americans experienced during the early years of the pandemic.
COVID Is Growing Across Almost the Entire Country
A widely circulated social media post this week claimed COVID-19 infections were rising in 48 states.
The overall message is directionally correct, although the latest CDC estimate available is slightly different.
As of September 2, the CDC estimated that COVID-19 infections were growing or likely growing in 47 states, while three states were classified as having infections that were not changing. The agency estimated that zero states were experiencing declining or likely declining infections.
Importantly, the CDC’s epidemic-growth measure tracks whether transmission is increasing or decreasing. It does not mean every state is experiencing high levels of severe disease.
The CDC’s September 11 respiratory illness update makes that distinction particularly clear: COVID activity is elevated and increasing, yet hospitalizations remain low and overall respiratory illness activity remains very low.
Still, rising infections are already creating disruptions in some communities.
Texas School District Temporarily Closed Campuses
One of the most notable examples occurred in South Texas.
San Perlita Independent School District temporarily suspended operations at all of its campuses in late August after officials reported the rapid spread of COVID-19 within the district.
The shutdown came only about two weeks after the school year began on August 10.
The small Rio Grande Valley district, which served 174 students during the previous academic year, canceled classes for two days as a precaution. Officials used the closure to disinfect classrooms and common areas before students returned August 27.
The district did not publicly disclose the number of confirmed cases behind the decision.
While the shutdown was brief, it illustrated how quickly an outbreak can create operational problems for a school district, particularly when infections affect both students and employees.
Louisiana School Hit by Major COVID Absences
A similar situation unfolded in Louisiana.
Park Ridge Achievement Academy in Baker canceled classes for a day after a substantial COVID outbreak caused widespread absences.
According to WAFB, 20 teachers and 80 students were out sick with COVID during the week leading up to the closure. School officials said infections accumulated throughout the week until staffing and attendance problems reached a point where temporarily closing the school made sense.
The campus used the closure and weekend to conduct additional cleaning while encouraging symptomatic students and employees to stay home and get tested.
Classes subsequently resumed.
These cases do not represent a nationwide return to pandemic-era school closures. Instead, they show that individual schools and districts can still experience localized outbreaks large enough to disrupt normal operations.
Why COVID Often Rises in Late Summer
The timing isn’t entirely unexpected.
COVID-19 has repeatedly produced waves outside the traditional winter respiratory-virus season. Late-summer increases can coincide with travel, indoor gatherings and millions of students returning to classrooms.
Schools create particularly efficient environments for respiratory viruses to circulate. Students spend hours together indoors before returning home to families, while extracurricular activities, sports and school transportation create additional opportunities for transmission.
The CDC’s current data show that COVID is not the only illness circulating. Rhinovirus and enterovirus are increasing nationally, as is group A strep, while seasonal influenza and RSV activity remain low.
That means families may encounter several illnesses as the school year gets underway.
Rising Cases Don’t Mean It’s 2020 Again
Perhaps the most important context surrounding the current increase is what isn’t happening.
There is currently no evidence in the federal data of anything resembling the nationwide hospital crisis experienced during the early pandemic.
CDC modeling published September 4 projected approximately 4,000 new laboratory-confirmed COVID hospital admissions nationally for the week ending September 12, compared with roughly 3,200 reported for the week ending August 29. The same forecast estimated that about 0.61% of new emergency-department visits would involve COVID.
Those figures can change as additional data arrive, but they reinforce the broader picture: transmission is increasing, while severe outcomes remain much more limited.
That distinction matters.
Headlines saying COVID is “rising in nearly every state” can sound alarming without context. At the same time, dismissing the increase entirely ignores real outbreaks that have already disrupted schools in Texas and Louisiana.
Both realities can exist simultaneously.
Schools Face a Different COVID Era
The response in 2026 also looks dramatically different from what Americans experienced several years ago.
Rather than broad statewide shutdowns or extended remote-learning periods, the recent closures have been short, localized decisions made by individual school systems dealing with immediate outbreaks and staffing challenges.
Park Ridge closed for a single day.
San Perlita suspended operations for two days.
Both returned students to classrooms afterward.
That may ultimately become the model for dealing with future outbreaks: targeted responses when illness becomes disruptive rather than sweeping restrictions affecting entire states.
What Families Should Know This Fall
For parents, the practical message is relatively straightforward.
COVID hasn’t disappeared.
The virus continues to circulate and evolve, and periodic increases remain possible. Families with older relatives, immunocompromised household members or people otherwise at greater risk of severe disease may want to pay closer attention when local transmission increases.
The CDC currently recommends basic measures including staying home when sick, practicing good hygiene and considering a mask when experiencing respiratory symptoms.
Meanwhile, schools will continue making decisions based on conditions inside their own buildings.
The Bottom Line
COVID-19 is experiencing another nationwide upswing as the 2026–27 school year gets underway.
CDC modeling indicates infections are growing or likely growing in 47 states, and the agency says national COVID activity is elevated and increasing. Yet the broader respiratory-illness burden remains very low, and COVID hospitalizations remain low.
Temporary closures in Texas and Louisiana demonstrate that localized outbreaks can still cause significant disruption—especially when enough teachers and students become sick at the same time.
But this isn’t a return to nationwide shutdowns.
Six years after COVID transformed American life, the virus remains part of the public-health landscape. The challenge now is separating legitimate awareness from unnecessary alarm—and understanding the difference between a virus spreading more widely and a virus causing widespread severe disease.
