Kerry Washington at Metropolitan Opera’s 2010-11 Season Opening Night – “Das Rheingold” (David Shankbone, Wikimedia Commons).
This article was originally published on Word In Black.
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If you’re like most people, this social media post by Kerry Washington surprised you — and not in a good way.
“Soooooooooo I have COVID and I won’t be able to make it to the @unprisonedhulu season 2 premiere tonight in NYC,” Washington wrote on Instagram and X. “I’m not sure what’s worse right now, being sick with COVID or being sick with FOMO.”
Uh, waitaminute…COVID is still a thing?
Yes. After almost four years of mask-wearing, remote working, and several rounds of boosters, the COVID-19 virus is surging this summer.
Washington, an Emmy and NAACP Image Award winner, had to stay home while her co-stars from Hulu’s “UnPrisoned,” including Delroy Lindo and Faly Rakotohavana, attended the show’s season 2 premiere.
In “UnPrisoned,” Washington portrays a relationship therapist who is working on her relationship with her formerly incarcerated father, Edwin, played by Lindo. Washington’s character, Paige Alexander, is also raising her teenage son, portrayed by Rakotohavana.
The infection that put Washington on lockdown is spreading nationwide.
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“Many areas of the country are experiencing consistent increases in COVID-19 activity,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns on its website. The agency says rates of COVID-19 are increasing among people living in western states — especially adults over age 65.
As a result, emergency room visits and COVID-related hospitalizations have spiked from the “very low levels” of late spring. The CDC says infections in May 2024 were as low as they’ve been since March 2020, when the world went on lockdown.
During the week ending July 6, positive test rates for the coronavirus and related emergency department visits were way up in 26 states and Washington, D.C., according to data the CDC released Monday.
The greatest increases in emergency visits due to COVID were logged in Mississippi (up 83%), Rhode Island (up 55%), Idaho (up 45%) and Michigan (up 41%). The CDC says that individuals ages 6 months and older should get an updated COVID-19 vaccine this fall. The new vaccines should be available in early September.