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

The rate of decline really slowed this week:

With a decline from 789 copies/ml to 646 copies/ml, we’re still six to seven times higher than the mid-June 2023 nadir and at half of the January 2023 season peak. That probably means around 1.0 to 1.5 percent of people are currently infected (though that’s a very rough estimate because we’re not collecting the right prevalence data).

Anne Arundel County also had a very modest decline too. I was really hoping we would get a few more weeks of steep declines. With luck (because we sure as shit don’t have any prevention policy), we’ll resume some sharp downwards trends–and we really don’t want the prevalence to rise in a week.

Anyway, the prevalence is still high, but it’s still trending in the right direction, albeit slowly. 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.