D.C.’s COVID waterwater data hints towards fall uptick

The quantity of COVID-19 in D.C.’s wastewater has been decrease than the nationwide common because the finish of July, though current knowledge exhibits a slight uptick.

• Nonetheless, this evaluation of literal feces exhibits that COVID instances have dropped considerably because the begin of the 12 months and have remained low.

Why it issues: Officers nationwide are utilizing wastewater to observe ranges of the virus and warn of potential spikes in instances days earlier than particular person testing can.

• Wastewater can be essential in monitoring instances at a time when COVID testing is on the decline and fewer people are reporting instances.

State of play: D.C. has seen continued delays to its personal wastewater monitoring program.

The info lastly revealed Friday by the CDC’s wastewater surveillance contractor Biobot measures wastewater samples taken between Could 25 and Sept. 21 from the Blue Plains Wastewater Plant — which collects wastewater from D.C., Montgomery, Prince George’s, Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

The underside line: For essentially the most half, wastewater knowledge from the D.C. area has adopted nationwide tendencies over the past 4 months, seeing a staggered decline in instances since a spike in mid-July.

• Sure, however: Whereas the nationwide common since early September has seen continued decline, D.C.’s instances have seen a slight uptick, nonetheless remaining low total however giving some perception into what the autumn might need in retailer for us.

What’s subsequent: DC Well being, which can be collaborating within the CDC’s wastewater surveillance program, tells Axios it has now submitted 2 months price of wastewater knowledge from 16 further websites, together with sewer sheds in every ward and several other colleges, to the CDC.

Be sensible: Regardless of low case counts, it is nonetheless nearly as good a time as ever to get your bivalent booster.