The Omicron variant of Covid-19, which is the primary reason for the worsening pandemic situation in the United States, has set authorities thinking for how long this surge might last.
According to a report by the New York Times, the omicron variant's surge is emerging from the unlikely source, the sewage.
People who test positive for the coronavirus disease shed the virus in their stool, the report said, adding “the virus levels in local wastewater provide a strong, independent signal of how much is circulating in a given community.”
The sewage data reveals an Omicron wave that is cresting at various times and locations.
In Boston city, the surge in Covid-19 cases might have hit a peak amid a steep decline in viral signals in wastewater.
Biobot Analytics, a Boston-based startup that monitors Covid-19 levels in sewage, said the virus concentration in the city’s wastewater samples is down over 50% from its recent peak.
Apart from analysing Boston, Biobot Analytics is also tracking the virus in 183 communities across 25 states. The firm said that virus levels have already started to drop in many big cities. However, they are rising in smaller communities, according to the New York Times report.
{{/usCountry}}Apart from analysing Boston, Biobot Analytics is also tracking the virus in 183 communities across 25 states. The firm said that virus levels have already started to drop in many big cities. However, they are rising in smaller communities, according to the New York Times report.
{{/usCountry}}The drop of virus concentration in Boston's wastewater samples is the most dramatic to date, Biobot Analytics president and co-founder Newsha Ghaeli said last week.
“We are pretty confident and hopeful that we have passed the peak of omicron infections,” Ghaeli told Bloomberg Radio on January 13 and added that hospitalisations might still surge “but there are better days ahead.”
Citing wastewater data, Boston's mayor Michelle Wu said on January 13 that Omicron's peak may be past us soon.
In the state of Florida, sewage data has indicated that the Omicron crisis in Miami-Dade County might soon peak, according to Bloomberg. On the other hand, in New York, people visiting emergency departments with Covid-like illness have dipped in all five boroughs.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that has been funding sewage surveillance in the US is now planning to add sewage surveillance to its daily Covid tracker on the internet.