The carefully monitored Boston-area COVID wastewater tracker reveals that virus knowledge has been decrease in latest weeks amid the BA.5 variant, which is an encouraging signal for the remainder of summer time.
The COVID sewage samples within the north of Boston area have now dropped 28% in the previous few weeks, whereas the virus knowledge within the south-of-the-city area has decreased 22% over the previous month. Meanwhile, the extremely contagious BA.5 omicron variant has turn into the dominant pressure throughout the area.
The predictive wastewater knowledge is an indicator for virus an infection ranges in the neighborhood.
“This is about what I’d been expecting,” mentioned Matthew Fox, a Boston University School of Public Health epidemiologist. “Summer is normally quiet right here in New England for COVID.
“We had some increase with the BA.4 and BA.5 but not too much and I expect this means the rest of the summer should be quiet,” he added. “Once we get back to schools opening and end of summer I expect things will pick up again, but hopefully not too strongly.”
The north of Boston seven-day common for COVID wastewater samples is now 580 copies per milliliter, down from the typical of 804 copies in early July, in response to Biobot Analytics’ check outcomes from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s pilot examine to trace wastewater on the Deer Island Treatment Plant.
The south of Boston seven-day common for COVID wastewater samples is now 575 copies per milliliter, a drop from the typical of 739 copies final month.
The present wastewater knowledge continues to be excessive, nevertheless it’s an enchancment from the charges of greater than 1,000 copies from early June, in response to the Boston Public Health Commission.
“The improvement in our COVID-19 trends over the past two weeks is a welcomed sign, but we must remain vigilant, especially with the highly transmissible BA.5 variant making up a majority of cases in the region,” mentioned Bisola Ojikutu, commissioner of Public Health and govt director of the Boston Public Health Commission.
“We’ve seen a consistent pattern of ups and downs for the past few months, but, overall, Boston’s metrics are at a medium risk level,” Ojikutu added. “The risk of transmission is still significant, and we all need to continue to take proper precautions to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our communities.”
The extremely transmissible BA.5 variant, which accounts for 81.4% of recent COVID instances in New England, has resulted in a number of cases of reinfection. The Boston Public Health Commission is urging folks to get a booster shot, noting that the variant can evade immunity from the preliminary vaccine sequence and prior an infection.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”