Amid emerging wastewater levels from COVID-19, Boston officials are stepping up efforts to track the virus in the city.
Boston plans to identify 11 new wastewater stations, Bisola Ojikutu, the city’s commissioner of public fitness, said Monday, the Boston Globe reported.
Speaking at a town hall meeting, Ojikutu said the move is a reaction to a significant drop in COVID-19 testing across the city.
“We will make a pattern of those sites weekly based on the viral concentration in wastewater locally,” Ojikutu said, according to the Globe. “And we will also be able to monitor the new variants. “
The goal is to better understand how the virus spreads in Boston’s fast-paced communities. So far, the city has obtained aggregated data from Boston and 22 other communities, the Globe reported. Now, managers will be able to access more specific wastewater data.
To install those sites, Boston is collaborating with BioBot Analytics, a wastewater epidemiology company that tracks COVID-19 degrees in the eastern part of the state for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.
Boston will use $3. 9 million in federal investment to establish the sites, the Globe reported.
“The plan is to use [this] knowledge for the elaboration of intervention and development plans,” Ojikutu said.
Wastewater tracking is a useful tool to combat the spread of COVID-19. When a user becomes inflamed with COVID-19, they release the virus into wastewater, whether or not they have symptoms. For this reason, wastewater monitoring is more vital than ever. when testing decreases, as is the case in the city. The approach serves as an early indicator of long-term COVID-19 trends in a specific area. Wastewater surveillance, unlike other types of COVID-19 surveillance, does not rely on residents’ access to physical care, others seeking physical care when sick, or the availability of COVID-19 testing.
Right now, experts are seeing troubling trends for the holiday season. On Friday, city officials suggested citizens update their booster shots and take precautions, such as wearing masks indoors.
MWRA tracks wastewater from a northern region and a southern region of communities. The northern region stretches from Boston to Wilmington and Reading. The southern region includes parts of Newton and Brookline and cities as far south as Walpole and Stoughton.
The amount of wastewater virus in MWRA’s northern segment increased by about 86 percent from Nov. 23-30, according to data posted on Twitter via Ojikutu. It increased nearly 96 percent from Nov. 16 to Nov. 30.
The number of COVID-19 cases shown rose 14% in the latter part of November, city officials said. Boston also saw a 24% increase in new COVID-19 hospitalizations as of Nov. 30.
Only 11 percent of Bostonians won the new recall, which is designed in particular to target the highly contagious variant of omicron, city officials said. Citizens get vaccinated. The people said 11 percent of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders earned retirement, as did thirteen percent of white citizens.
Ojikutu, in the statement on Friday, emphasized the fact that booster shots are safe, loose and highly effective in preventing serious illness and hospitalization. The experts proposed that other people get a booster if it has been at least two months since they last received a dose of the vaccine. They are available to everyone from the age of five.
The city operates several walk-in clinics offering COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, boosters, and flu shots. No insurance, identification, or appointment is required. More information can be found at www. boston. gov/covid19.