A blip or the beginning of a trend? Encouraging signal emerges in COVID waste-water numbers. | Washington Post

CEID Faculty Dr. David Hamer weighed in on COVID-19 variants and wastewater tracking:

“Asked Friday about the latest data on the unpredictable virus, Dr. David H. Hamer, professor of global health and medicine at the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine, suggested it’s too soon to celebrate.

‘I think it is too early to say that we have turned the corner, although it would not surprise me if this current secondary BA.2 wave is shorter and less intense than the preceding Omicron wave,’ Hamer said in an e-mail. ‘This would fit in with my hypothesis that this will not be a big wave (more of a ripple) as so many people were infected with Omicron that there are not large segments of the population in Massachusetts that are still non-immune to this variant.’

Since many families are away for school vacation week, Hamer noted it’s ‘possible that this could have resulted in a reduction in fecal shedding of viral RNA in the Greater Boston area. It will be interesting to see if this is a further increase next week when everyone is back. My hope will be for a gradual decline. Case numbers are still high and hopefully these too will begin to decline.’…”

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