COVID-19 infections are growing or likely growing in nearly every U.S. state, according to the latest epidemic modeling from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with a map of current transmission trends showing almost the entire country colored red for the first time this summer.

As of Aug. 19, 2026, the CDC's Current Epidemic Trends model estimates that COVID-19 infections are growing or likely growing in 47 states, declining or likely declining in zero states, and not meaningfully changing in just two states, according to the agency's own published data. That figure builds on an even broader assessment from the prior week; as of Aug. 12, the CDC had estimated infections were growing or likely growing in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, with Iowa the lone exception due to insufficient data available to generate a trend estimate, according to Newsweek.

The map's near-total shift toward growth represents a dramatic escalation compared with conditions just a month earlier. On July 22, the CDC estimated infections were growing or likely growing in only 37 states, while 11 states were classified as experiencing stable transmission at that time, according to Newsweek's earlier reporting on the model. Those 11 pockets of stability have since disappeared entirely from the map, reflecting how quickly the summer wave expanded from a regional phenomenon centered in the South and West into a fully nationwide trend.

The CDC's model does not attempt to estimate the actual number of Americans currently........

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