*And by D.C., I mean Alexandria, VA, because the publicly available D.C. data can’t really be easily understood and don’t seem to be collected anymore.

I guess the good news is we didn’t see another 200% increase this week:

With a slight increase from 696 copies/ml to 713, we’re seven times higher than the mid-June 2023 nadir and around 55% of the January 2023 season peak. That probably means around one percent of people are currently infected (though that’s a very rough estimate because we’re not collecting the right prevalence data).

Meanwhile in Anne Arundel County, MD, which has comparable COVID wastewater concentrations to Alexandria, there was no slowdown whatsoever. That’s not encouraging.

If you’re at a large-ish gathering, it’s definitely a good idea to mask up, not just to protect yourself, but to protect others too. Remember, you’re not the weirdo if you’re still trying to avoid getting (re)infected.