Coronavirus levels in Boston-area waste water continue edging lower – The Boston Globe
Levels of coronavirus in Eastern Massachusetts waste water are continuing to edge down after climbing for much of April.
The seven-day average of virus levels fell slightly since readings last week, an encouraging sign that the virus could be receding. Virus readings in the northern half of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s system, which includes Boston, have been falling steadily since early last week. Meanwhile, the levels detected in the southern half of the system have varied: levels dropped sharply between Friday and Saturday before rebounding slightly early this week. Still, the seven-day average in the southern system remains below a recent high on April 19.
Andrew Lover, an assistant professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, noted that Massachusetts had April school vacation last week. He suggested that might have affected the numbers and said, “We need to wait another week or two to have a really good sense of what’s going on. Fingers crossed.”
Officials say waste water virus data can be an important early warning signal, detecting COVID-19 infections before people get tested and the tests are officially reported. As more people are using at-home COVID-19 testing kits, whose results are usually not reported to state public health officials, waste water data has become a key indicator of the virus’s prevalence.
While COVID-19 cases and coronavirus readings in the region’s waste water spiked this month, the severity of the current swell pales in comparison to the Omicron wave that crashed over the region during the winter. Coronavirus readings in Boston-area waste water in late December and early January were vastly higher than the levels seen this month.
Christina Prignano can be reached at christina.prignano@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @cprignano. Martin Finucane can be reached at martin.finucane@globe.com.
