(NEXSTAR) – A summer surge in COVID-19 cases has spiked the number of people in the hospital with serious complications from the virus. Nationwide, COVID-related hospitalizations are up 12% in the last week of available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But in some U.S. counties, the situation is dramatically worse. The CDC considers COVID-19 hospitalizations to be “medium” in 17 counties around the country. That means between 10 and 19.9 people are hospitalized with the virus for every 100,000 residents.

In two places in Texas, Navarro and Freestone counties, hospitalizations were up 250% in a single week – meaning they more than tripled. Fourteen new people were admitted in the past week, but because of their relatively small populations, that’s a “high” rate of people going to the hospital, according to the CDC classification.

Other areas of concern are:

  • Southeast Texas (Presidio, Brewster and Jeff Davis counties): hospitalizations up 100% in one week
  • Northeastern Oregon (Wallowa, Union and Baker counties)
  • Central Oklahoma (Seminole, Hughes, Pontotoc and Coal counties): hospitalizations jumped 450%
  • Hawaii County: hospitalizations up 64%
  • Southern Nebraska (Adams, Clay, Webster and Nuckolls counties): hospitalizations up 125%
  • Mohave County, Arizona: hospitalizations elevated, but dropping week over week
  • Colquitt County, Georgia: hospitalizations up 67%

What about Ohio?

In Ohio, every county is considered to have “low levels” of hospitalizations.

The state of Ohio has also seen an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations this summer, according to the Ohio Department of Health. But ODH says, “It is important to note that these are modest increases from historically low levels.” That is illustrated on the Ohio Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard.”

According to the ODH Current Trends dashboard, there has not been an increase over the past few weeks in the average number of intensive-care unit admissions and deaths.

Also, current cases remain in the Omicron lineage, rather than a new variant family.

“Most Ohioans likely have some amount of immunity from Omicron, either from vaccines or from prior infection, or both,” according to an ODH statement. “While we do not believe a major surge is imminent, the department strongly encourages all Ohioans to stay up to date with COVID vaccines. A bivalent dose offers the best protection against serious illness, and this is particularly important for those age 65 or over or those who are immunocompromised or have serious underlying health conditions.”

For more about COVID-19 from ODH, click here.

How does that compare to the country?

Nationwide, there were an additional 8,035 people admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, the CDC reports. This is the biggest spike in COVID hospitalizations since last winter, according to The Hill.

Orange counties have high rates of new COVID hospitalizations, yellow have medium levels, and green counties have low levels, per the CDC. (Map: CDC)

The CDC does not track infections anymore, meaning hospitalizations are one of the only data clues we have to understand how fast the virus is spreading and where.

Jill Rosenthal, director of public health policy at the Center for American Progress, told The Hill summer surges of COVID-19 may be the new norm. “We have had a summer wave of COVID for the last few summers and so it’s not surprising to see an increase in COVID right now.”

While winter means more people socialize indoors (known to accelerate the spread of the coronavirus), summer means more people are traveling and socializing overall. Plus, in hot parts of the country, people are more likely to socialize and spend time in air-conditioned indoors than they are to be outside.

The omicron variant still appears to be dominant. According to the CDC, omicron’s many subtypes make up 99.9% of cases.