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

Holy haberdashery, it’s not good:

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With an increase from 1,285 copies/ml to 1,516 copies/ml, we’re fifteen times higher than the mid-June 2023 nadir and at 116% of the January 2023 season peak–yes, worse than last January. That probably means at least 2.0 percent of people are currently infected (though that’s a very rough estimate because we’re not collecting the right prevalence data).

That said, Anne Arundel County, MD has leveled off, though that has happened before, followed by another spike, so we’ll just have to hope for the best.

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.