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

A very solid decline for Alexandria, VA:

With a decline from 1,249 copies/ml to 979 copies/ml, we’re still ten times higher than the mid-June 2023 nadir and at three-quarters of the January 2023 season peak. That probably means around 2.0 percent of people are currently infected (though that’s a very rough estimate because we’re not collecting the right prevalence data).

Anne Arundel, MD also seems to be declining (finally), so we might be on the down slope. If I had to guess based on previous years, we’ll slowly decline to about June, at which point the prevalence will be around ten percent of what it is now, followed by a mid-to-late summer spike, but, like I said, that’s just a guess, and we have a long way to go.

The prevalence is still high, but it’s trending in the right direction. That said, 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.