COVID is a dreaded word, but here we go again. This time it's hitting closer to home.

There's a surge happening with COVID-19, and it seems it's also sprinkled in with other viruses, plus it's the season of the common cold and flu.

Therefore many don't even think to test for COVID, but when they do, they have it.

COVID is annoying because while you don't have the quarantine for 10 days as we did in previous years, you still have to stay home and away for people, and then wear a mask after the contagious stage is over.

Mask-wearing is not a bad thing anymore, it's just normal.

Here's the surprising part. There's been a surge in COVID in the Northeast. Two weeks ago Massachusetts had one of the highest numbers for the virus in the country, but that's changed.

As of now, five states have skyrocketed in cases of COVID, and they are New Hampshire, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico and South Dakota.

They are not even all near each other.

How does the CDC predict where the breakouts will be?

According to Newsweek.com, wastewater is measured for infectious diseases within a community. This does not mean these people have symptoms, but it's a measure of the percentage of the community who have an infectious disease.

Read More: New Hampshire Covid High in August, Too

In our office in New Hampshire, each week someone has been out with varying degrees of COVID, and while the surge happens in the colder months, this time one of the hot spots is the Granite State.