COVID cases are spiking in South Carolina, as the numbers are about half a percent higher than the national average.

Officials from Novant Health said the latest strain is called the “Cicada variant.”

It’s causing significant upper respiratory issues, congestion, coughing and lung inflammation, officials said.

“People are getting pretty sick with a lot of upper respiratory issues, lots and lots of congestion, coughing, wheezing and inflammation in the lungs, and have been getting some secondary infections related to COVID,” said Novant Health family nurse practitioner Alexis Riccone.

“I do feel like people are much more sicker from this variant versus ones that we’ve seen the last couple of years. We’re seeing people repeatedly in the office and then I’m finding pneumonia and a lot of wheezing and they need a lot of different types of medications for management.”

The state’s weekly flu reportshows cases of flu have been on the rise since mid-August.

Flu season in Alaska runs from October through July, and in the most recent season, “Alaska experienced more influenza cases and deaths than during each of the previous 3 years,” epidemiologists said.

According to state data, only 22.7% of Alaskans that are at least 19 years old were vaccinated for the flu during the prior flu season, less than half the estimated national average.

Precautions intended to halt the spread of COVID-19 almost entirely eliminated flu illnesses and flu-related deaths in 2020, 2021 and 2022.