After Covid cases gradually declined last month after a couple years of fluctuations, many Americans were hopeful that they might be hopping back to their pre-pandemic lifestyles. However, the current month’s data says something else.
“New data indicators, domestically and internationally, suggest that the virus continues to spread,” ABC News Tweeted.
The recent stats that have been collected, domestically and internationally, indicate the resurgence of the virus with rapid spread.
While the infection and hospitalization rate have both reportedly been stable, data from wastewater indicated a possible rise in the infection rate in the near future. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it might be the beginning of another Covid wave.
According to the CDC data that has been collected from 37 percent of wastewater areas, there is a 100 percent increase in the presence of the Covid virus, monitored from February 24 to March 10. Moreover, 30 percent of these areas have confirmed an increase by 1000 percent or even more.
“It is likely we will see a new rise in cases across the United States as our wastewater data is showing a concerning signal,” said Harvard Medical School’s assistant professor for global health and social medicine, Rebecca Weintraub. “Now is a key moment to communicate why we need to accelerate the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine, remind communities why boosters are needed, secure an ongoing supply of tests and N95 to communities — especially the red zones.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, wastewater surveillance has been serving as an essential tool for determining Covid trends in the country.
Because asymptomatic individuals can shed the infectious virus, wastewater surveillance helps record infections that may have escaped the official count. Moreover, several Americans had done at-home Covid tests that went unreported to officials, this is also likely why experts expect that the actual count was more than what was previously counted.
Wastewater data in Northeast America, including Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, show a notable surge in the presence of the Covid. Some wastewater sites in New York city even recorded a 50 percent increase.
